Why You Need a Personal Humidifier For Allergies

According to statistics published by WebMD, nearly 55% of the American population is affected by allergies. Many of these allergens are airborne and many are actually floating around unseen to the naked eye within our homes! We commonly spend the majority of our waking hours indoors, especially during the colder Winter months. Although an air purifier may seen like the natural choice to relieve allergy symptoms, you also want to consider purchasing a personal humidifier.

How do personal humidifiers help relieve allergies, you might wonder? The answer has everything to do with the structure of the nose! Humidifiers help to keep the nasal passages moist and make breathing more comfortable. Keeping those nasal passages moist is especially important during the Winter when temperatures drop. We constantly run heaters indoors to keep us warm, but by adjusting the temperature on the thermostat we also reduce the natural humidity in the air that we breathe. This can make for quite an uncomfortable breathing experience for allergy sufferers. On top of experiencing irritated nasal and lung passages, these air pathways are also dry. This combination of conditions can have you running to the doctor's office.

Many doctors actually advise that patients use humidifiers in their homes during the cold, dry Winter season. An air purifier is always a good idea because these devices actually trap and remove microscopic airborne allergens from the indoor environment, but you may want to run this appliance concurrently with a personal humidifier during the worst of the Winter. Also be aware that some doctors may issue a note of caution against the use of humidifier in the home because of risk of mold. However, the threat of mold growth is almost eliminated with proper cleaning of humidifiers. This means changing out the water on a daily basis and switching out old humidifier filters for new ones at regular intervals.

You will also want to closely monitor the humidity levels in your home. Ideally, humidity levels should be kept around 35%-40%. Reading indoor humidity levels can be accomplished very easily by a reading of a digital humidifiers. There is a display that will tell you the exact amount of humidity in the air. Some of the more inexpensive models do not include a built-in hygrometer, but you can easily buy one for your bedroom - or wherever you operate your personal humidifier - from a home improvement store or even online.