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Humidifiers & The Benefits of Humidification
- Humidifiers help provide a healthier, more comfortable indoor climate– because susceptibility to viruses and bacteria is greater when the inside air is too dry, maintaining proper humidity levels can help make indoor air healthier.
- Humidifiers provide substantial energy cost savings and increased comfort– indoor air will feel warmer at 68°F when properly humidified than it will at 73°F when relative humidity levels are too low.
- Humidifiers protect fine furniture– because wood tends to shrink, split, and crack in an environment that is too dry adding the proper amount of moisture to the air helps lessen these problems.
- Humidifiers help relieve the physical discomforts of dry nose, throat, lips, and skin. The moisture they add to dry air also helps alleviate common nuisances brought on by winter heating, such as static electricity and annoying shocks.
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3 Great Humidifiers to choose from:
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Indirect health effects of relative humidity in indoor environments
A V Arundel, E M Sterling, J H Biggin, and T D Sterling
A review of the health effects of relative humidity in indoor environments suggests that relative humidity can affect the incidence of respiratory infections and allergies. Experimental studies on airborne-transmitted infectious bacteria and viruses have shown that the survival or infectivity of these organisms is minimized by exposure to relative humidity between 40 and 70%.
Nine epidemiological studies examined the relationship between the number of respiratory infections or absenteeism and the relative humidity of the office, residence, or school. The incidence of absenteeism or respiratory infections was found to be lower among people working or living in environments with mid-range versus low or high relative humidity.
The indoor size of allergenic mite and fungal populations is directly dependent upon the relative humidity. Mite populations are minimized when the relative humidity is below 50% and reach a maximum size at 80% relative humidity. Most species of fungi cannot grow unless the relative humidity exceeds 60%.
Relative humidity also affects the rate of offgassing of formaldehyde from indoor building materials, the rate of formation of acids and salts from sulfur and nitrogen dioxide, and the rate of formation of ozone. The influence of relative humidity on the abundance of allergens, pathogens, and noxious chemicals suggests that indoor relative humidity levels should be considered as a factor of indoor air quality.
The majority of adverse health effects caused by relative humidity would be minimized by maintaining indoor levels between 40 and 60%. This would require humidification during winter in areas with cold winter climates. Humidification should preferably use evaporative or steam humidifiers, as cool mist humidifiers can disseminate aerosols contaminated with allergens.
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