Humidity can be annoying, but as we end the cooling season it’s important to talk about the indoor air quality of your home during the winter. It’s easy to tell when your home is too humid in the summer, but it’s harder to tell when your home isn’t humid enough in the winter.
You’re probably saying “how can my home not be humid enough? Humidity is bad right?”
Well, not necessarily. Too much humidity is uncomfortable and awful, but low humidity is pretty detrimental to your health as well. There are many effects from having air that’s too dry during the winter, and if you’ll keep reading, you’ll see how they can range from minorly annoying to downright nasty if you’re not careful. Any Cherry Hill HVAC Company will tell you that air that’s not humid enough will make you uncomfortable as the winter progresses. Let’s talk about how!
Effects of Dry Indoor Air
Comfort isn’t the only effect of humidified or dehumidified air. When your indoor air quality is too dry, there are some pretty bad effects that can happen which many homeowners don’t know about, like the following:
- Skin Irritation. Dry air leads to skin irritation. This can eventually get worse and turn into rashes if you’re not careful and moisturizing your skin appropriately.
- Increased chances of catching an illness. The mucous membranes in your nasal cavity help trap virus and bacteria particles during cold and flu season. Without sufficient moisture in the air, those mucous membranes will dry up and be ineffective. Instead of your mucous membranes catching the cold and flu particles, it’ll be you!
- Dry air leads to dehydration since you’re breathing out more water than you’re taking in. Remember to stay hydrated while you look into getting a humidifier.
- Respiratory Irritation. If you’ve got anyone in your family who has a sensitive respiratory system, dry air can be awfully irritating. Moisture makes the air more comfortable to breathe, and aids in the healing of scarred respiratory tissue when recovering from an illness.
- Static Electricity. It’s easier to get shocked by static electricity in the winter than it is in the summer. Moisture accelerates the dissipation of electrons that make static shocks less frequent, which means you’ll have electricity building up on your metal surfaces more frequently in a dry environment.
Practical Solutions
We told you that there were many unforeseen health effects that came from having a dry environment in your home! Though, you’re probably wondering now about ways to deal with this problem. Well, we aren’t stuck in the 19th century where you’d have to boil a pot of water all night. There are much better, more promising and efficient solutions to keeping your home humid.
That’s where a humidifier comes in! There are many different sizes of humidifiers, from small ones that just humidify one room, to whole-house humidifiers. The big thing to remember is that humidification is vital to the health of you and your family. If indoor air quality is as important to you as it is to us, then you should think about investing in a humidifier before winter gets here.
If you’re curious about humidification systems, contact Ambient Comfort today!