Everyone is paranoid about Covid 19. So many people are trying alternative medicines and treatments to prevent and treat Covid. All the bad press around the Vaccines are not helping. So why don’t we just focus on things that do help?
I have been testing Air Humidifiers to see if they make a difference concerning health.
In this article I will make a summary of all the reasons why you should consider an Air Humidifier.
Can an Air Humidifier help prevent colds and flu?
According to medical doctors the humidity of the air you breathe indoors can make a big difference in you chances to contract a virus.
Though indoor heating devices and air cons the humidity of the air indoors can easily drop by at least 20%. This means that the virus particles can now move easier throughout the air. In a room with a higher humidity of at least 44% to 70% the virus particles attach themselves to the humidity and therefore get heavy and fall to the ground. In tests, they have done it was found that only 10% of the particles of a cough would reach another person 2 meters away in a high humidity room compared to the 50% in a low humid room.
Can dry air cause my sinuses to act up?
I always wondered why my nose always burns, my throat gets dry, I cough more and have watery eyes and headaches in the winter? Does these symptoms sound familiar?
After reading an article on dry air; also drying out the mucus in you nose, I was convinced to buy a humidifier.
Apparently the mucus membrane in you nose is supposed to act like a filter for the air you breathe. Virus particles as well as bacteria or dust would be filtered out of the air by sticking to the mucus in you nose and throat. These particles are then blown or coughed out and that is why you don’t contract flu as easily in the summer when the humidity is higher.
That was all the convincing I needed. I got onto our local online shop and picked 2 of the cheapest humidifiers I could find.
It’s has been 4 weeks now since I have been using them and I can really tell you my nose is not stuffy, dry and burny anymore at night. My daughter has stopped coughing at night and she loves her new night light humidifier.
What kind of humidifier should I get?
As far as I can tell you get cold water and hot water Humidifier. The Cold water humidifiers use either an ultrasonic plate or a spray mechanism to eject the water. The Hot water Humidifiers ejects through steam.
I bought two humidifiers. They are both cold water Humidifiers. One works with the spray function and the other has the ultrasonic plate.
The ultrasonic plate humidifier I got acts as an aromatherapy, air purifier as well as a humidifier. The other one I got for my girl’s room is just a spray humidifier with nice lights.
I must say the aromatherapy/purifier/humidifier does offer more value for money. I would suggest that you get one with an ultrasonic plate which produces cold air mist or fog. I found that the mist of the ultrasonic plate is much finer and travels further and covers a bigger area for a larger room. You can smell the fresh air when you come into the room.
I have a large 3 bedroom house, and I do not see how just one humidifier would do the job, so I opted to just buy one for each room. The spray humidifier does work, however if you use it on constant spray you end up with a wet surface all around the machine. You can only use a spray humidifier on the lower intermittent spray setting where a short spray is given every few seconds.
Look for a big water tank
The size of the water tank is also something you need to look at. Because I just shopped for the cheapest humidifiers they both have only a 500 ml water tank. I find this is sufficient to go through the night but not longer than that. I would suggest you find one with at least 1 litre capacity.
Another piece of advice I can offer is to read the reviews on the humidifier before you buy it to find out if it’s noisy. If you plan on using it through the night in you bedroom you might want to get a silent one. That is where it becomes hard to make a choice. The spray Humidifier is very quiet whereas the Aromatherapy/purifier/humidifier with the ultrasonic plate can sometimes be a bit noisy. The ultrasonic plate inside the machine causes the water to bubble. The machine itself does not make a noise but the bubbles made by the ultrasonic plate can be noisy. Imagine the sound you will hear when blowing into a glass of water with a straw.
There are very expensive humidifiers out there but luckily there are some cheap ones as well. I hope the pointers I gave you in this post will help you choose the right kind of humidifier you need. I made a video of the two humidifiers I got to show you how easy they are to use and also show you the difference between the two kinds.
After the videos below, I have left you a list of the cheaper humidifiers which compares well to the pointers I have left you in this post. I hope you find one that works for you! Good luck and let me know if you found one!
Thank you for very interesting article. To be fair I wasn’t thinking about buying Air Humidifier but looking on your post maybe this is something worth considering. I don’t really think it will really prevent Covid-19, but still it may increase quality of air, and in result quality of day to day life (especially that we spend in home more time then ever). Prices of models you recommended are really reasonable, and Im looking forward to test them in practice.
Indeed we are spending more and more time indoors! Air quality is getting in increasing thing to be aware of especially if you are living in a polluted place such as a large city or near a factory of some kind. We’ve got nothing to loose! So let’s get an air humidifier.