The Effects of Low Humidity on Your Health and Comfort
Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air. Although it is often overlooked, proper indoor humidity is crucial to your health. Too much or too little humidity can result in serious health consequences. The ideal indoor humidity range is between 40% and 60%.
During winter, indoor air often becomes dry. Cold air, which carries less moisture than warm air, enters the house and is heated, lowering its relative humidity. Low humidity can also occur in arid climates during summer as a result of excessive air conditioning, which removes moisture from the air as it operates.
The effects of low humidity
Eyes become dry and irritated, skin gets flaky and itchy and the low humidity inflames and dries out the mucous membrane lining the respiratory tract. As a result, the risk of cold, flu and other infections is substantially increased.
Respiratory
Many viruses survive longer in low humidity, further increasing your risk of getting sick. Dry conditions can also cause particles of “infective aerosols” to lose their mass quickly via vaporization, according to an NIH-cited study about the atmospheric factors that affect the transition of infections. In other words, after someone sneezes, the droplets dry out but the viruses remain, able to float in the air indefinitely – ultimately finding their way into your dry respiratory tract.
Studies have also shown that nasal congestion is related to the humidity and temperature of the inhaled air. By influencing the “nasal cooling” effect, low humidity can create a feeling of nasal congestion as a result of dried out and irritated sinus membranes. Fortunately, by using SensorPush, a wireless thermometer/hygrometer that works with your iOS or Android devices, you can receive notifications when conditions are too dry so you can take proper action to maintain your comfort and health.
Eyes
Low humidity can dry your eyes by increasing the evaporation of tears. This disrupts the natural moisture balance, necessary for proper function. At 72°F and humidity levels between 15-25%, a sudden drop in the quality of the eye mucus is visible. According to Dr. Ognjen Markovic, “the healthy tear film is critical for the optical quality of eyes, their nutrition, and the antimicrobial defense mechanisms of the cornea.”
Dry air can effect your performance and productivity as well. If the humidity is too low, your natural reaction is to blink more frequently. This increased blinking leads to a deterioration in the performance of visual tasks like reading or office work.
Skin
Your skin also suffers from dry conditions. Many people suffer from dry, scaly, and itchy skin during winter. This condition, a form of eczema commonly referred as winter itch, is caused by the lack of moisture in your skin. Dry air not only makes the skin dry at the surface, but it also draws the moisture out from inside, generating small cracks. These cracks not only cause discomfort but also create potential pathways for infection.
How to manage humidity — safely
You have a number of options to improve the quality of air if it is too dry. You can:
- Use a humidifier or vaporizer
- Boil water on your stove
- Place bowls of water in various locations in your home
- Take a shower and create a steam bath
The best option is to use one or more quality vaporizers or humidifiers strategically located around your home.
Why a bluetooth hygrometer is important
It is important to monitor the results. It’s very easy to over humidify, which increases the risk of mold, dust mites and other dangerous allergens. The humidistats and hygrometers built into humidifiers generally are not very accurate. They are too close to the humidifier to be able to accurately sense the overall condition of the room.
SensorPush accurately monitors and tracks the ambient conditions around your home, letting you finally achieve comfort and peace of mind. It is a simple, compact device created with the best Swiss sensing technology. It displays the information on Android or Apple iOS mobile devices. SensorPush records data once per minute and the app stores the entire history of data. You'll always have the full picture of conditions within your home. Our award-winning designers carefully designed the app to be user-friendly and easy to understand. With SensorPush, you not only get current and past conditions and notifications, but you can also export the data in CSV format for use in Excel or other software tools.
Once you get SensorPush, the pairing process takes just a moment. Then just place it wherever you like. Since your phone is the readout, hard-to-reach places or even locations that are completely out of sight are no problem. SensorPush will take it from there, letting you effortlessly monitor the data on your smartphone and alerting you when conditions deviate from the range you choose. Without having to worry about the quality of air in your home, you can relax in comfort and improved health and enjoy the time spent with your family.
Try SensorPush today!