Last updated on March 12th, 2022 at 11:07 am
The air quality for any asthma patient plays a keen role in their healthiness. Any unwanted variation in the air quality might make them sick or better to living. Before jumping to the effect of humidifiers—let’s acknowledge the general asthmatic relation to the mist. As the asthmatics have
Humidity and Asthma: Good or Bad?
Asthma is a respiratory disease that causes the air passageway to become narrower and inflamed—making it the victim hard to breathe. The quantity of mist in the air puts an effect on the breathing capability of a normal person—asthmatic patients have a noticeable and sometimes life-threatening effect due to harsh moisture levels.
Low Humidity
The low level of moisture in the air can cause your air passageway to become dry and irritated—this usually happens in cold weather and makes asthma harder to control. Even a normal person without asthma will feel harshness in breathing.
High Humidity
The high level of humidity escalates the growth of molds and certain allergens that directly affect breathing. This might trigger allergic reactions or asthma attacks. Super-humid air is heavy and makes a normal person breathing hard.
As the excess of everything is bad, the same goes with humidity—too low will cause problems as well as too high, thus maintaining a smooth respiration system requires a sustained humid level. The asthma patients must be in a maintained mist level otherwise the attacks on their breathing capability would go harsh.
Do You Need a Humidifier?
The query that whether you need a humidifier or not depends on some questions that you must ask yourself and find answers to by taking a short survey in your house. These are:
Do you feel suffocated when you breathe deeply?
Does your family feel a bit the same or is it just with you because of asthma?
Does your throat stay dry and irritated?
Yes? Then it is cleared there is something with the air, then you should move to some practical steps. Call in the home care services and ask them to check the humid level of the environment. If it is too dry, then the answer is yes! You need a humidifier right away. The asthmatic patients might take a rough road with a dry climate and without a humidifier. They help in:
- Regulate the air temperature: The warm and cool mist humidifiers help in regulating the temperature respectively. This helps a lot in easing up the breathing of asthmatics.
- Regulate the Humidity: this is the main concern, and purpose of the humidifiers-to regulate the humidity.
- Improve Air Quality: The humidifiers likewise help in improving the air quality and this plays a super mega role in keeping asthmatics in healthy shape.
Problems with Humidifiers for Asthmatics
Asthmatics are super sensitive to change in the climate, any harshness in the air will make it harder for them to breathe. Keeping the air at the right humidity level may help reduce asthma symptoms. Even if the climate is too dry and you are going to install the humidifier there are some keen factors, you need to take care of, for the best health!
Don’t Let Them Run Non-Stop
Rather than maintaining the environment if the best humidifiers run excessively, then it will adverse the effect. There might be any reason behind a humidifier working constantly i.e.,
- Malfunctioning: Any wiring or electrical problem might cause it to work constantly.
- Faulty Hygrometer: The hygrometer is a device used to measure the humidity level in the air, if it gets wrong reading then it might cause the humidifier to malfunction.
Don’t Fill Tap Water
The tap water contains minerals and microbes—these in the air will only create more difficulties for an asthmatic patient. Rather than tap water, use distilled or purified water to create and keep it hygienic.
Clean Periodically
Asthmatic patients have a major issue with dust and other pollutants in the air. The cleaning of the humidifier is necessary—maintaining a schedule for cleaning will eliminate chances of dust and debris in the air, thus ensuring a cleaner and healthier environment.
Never Clean Them with Chemical Cleansers
Cleaning of humidifiers is necessary, but the products used for the purpose need to be on the watch list. Cleaning them with harsh chemical cleaners is a never-to-do thing. Toxic and hard cleaners that are designed for vanity cleaning leave their particulates in the device, later traveling with the mist causing problems for the living beings.
Suitable Humidifier: Warm Mist or Cool Mist?
Humidifiers moisten the air; the question falls on the temperature you need for the mist. Depending on the temperature of the mist, the humidifiers are of two types; warm mist humidifier and cool mist humidifier, in this section, we will discuss the effects of both on the breathing capability.
Warm Mist Humidifier
The Warm mist humidifiers use a heating element to boil water and make steam, and can slightly (but noticeably) warm a room’s air. There are certain benefits of using the humidifiers (for asthmatics and non-asthmatics) that are:
Reduce Bacteria: Warm mist humidifiers are better for reducing bacteria and germs and can achieve higher levels of moisture saturation. These bacteria can trigger asthmatic patients, but using a warm mist humidifier will inhibit their growth.
Medicated Products: One of the best advantages of using a warm mist humidifier is it can evaporate medicated products in the air.
Quieter: One of the major problems that people have about the humidifier is its noise. But warm mist humidifiers are way quieter than cool mist humidifiers.
Effect on Asthmatics: A survey shows that warm mist from the humidifier is good for asthmatic patients. Help them breathe more easily and help in reducing certain symptoms.
Cool Mist Humidifier
These humidifiers blow normal or cold mist with a fan blower. The purpose of moistening the environment fulfills but they are noisy. Although there is not any negative impact of a cool-mist humidifier but still in a cold environment, a warm-mist humidifier is much helpful.
In warm temperatures, cool mist humidifiers are essential, they help in maintaining a cooler environment.
Conclusion
Excess of everything is bad, the same goes with the humidifiers. They help to maintain a dry and rough environment by moistening. Asthmatic patients have a direct concern with the air quality—if there is a dryness in the air then they face a harshness in breathing. Humidifiers elevate the moisture level in the environment thus making it easier for asthmatics and other living beings to breathe. Cool or warm mist humidifiers are used respective of their temperature, both are good for asthmatics in dry air but warm is essential more.
Data Source
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humidity
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humidity#Electronics
- https://www.healthline.com/health/humidifiers-and-health#:~:text=Humidifier%20therapy%20adds%20moisture%20to,the%20flu%20or%20common%20cold.
- https://www.healthline.com/health/dehumidifier-benefits
