Humidity Does Affect Your Health

Keeping track of the indoor and outdoor temperature is always something we like to keep an eye on.  Did you know it is also important to keep track of the indoor and outdoor humidity?  Humidity can play a huge role in your health without you even realizing it. 

Humidity can play in a much bigger role than just making your hair frizzy when you go outside.  There are risks of the air being too humid and risks of your hair not being humid enough.  Humidity is the amount of moisture that is in the air and the air being too wet or too dry can play a factor on different aspects of your health.  The normal range of humidity is between 35-60%.  Anything too low or too high should be adjusted appropriately.

 

High Humidity Health Risks

 

You know those days when you walk outside and it’s like the air feels thick and heavy.  It can sometimes make it feel like you can’t take a deep breath.  These are usually the days where the humidity is high.  You may also notice when you step outside that your hair immediately becomes a huge curly frizz ball.  It’s amazing how just a bit of extra moisture in the air can cause so much issue.  Noticing the humidity outside can be critical in keeping yourself safe. 

When our bodies become overheated we sweat, then our sweat evaporates helping our bodies cool down.  When it is humid outside and there is more moisture in the air it is harder for our sweat to evaporate.  This causes our bodies to go into overdrive to try and cool your bodies down.  This can cause you to get exhausted and lethargic quickly when being outside in the humidity.  It can also make overheating a lot more common since your body cannot effectively cool itself down. 

While it is humid our bodies have to work extra hard meaning when we are too over worked it is easier for us to become dehydrated, or suffer from fatigue or muscle cramps, heat exhaustion, fainting and even heat stroke can be more probable when it is more humid outside. 

Signs of heat stroke are headaches, confusion, and vomiting.  If you experience any of those you will want to go to an emergency room right away to be treated.  Usually if we feel ourselves becoming overheated we can sit down, drink some cool water or get into an air conditioned building to help cool our bodies down and recover from the humidity.  

Humidity that is high inside can be just as detrimental as high humidity outside.  Meaning that if your house is extremely humid it can cause health issues as well.  The normal range of humidity is between 35-50%.  You will want to make sure that your house stays between that range as much as possible. 

Mold thrives in wet humid conditions, so if your house humidity is above the 50% mark, mold can grow and spread.  Mold can cause chronic nasal congestion, itchy eyes, wheezing and shortness of breath.  If you have allergies the high humidity can hugely aggravate your symptoms from your allergies. 

In a house that has carpet with high humidity your carpet can trap the moisture and make it a breeding ground for dust mites.  Dust mites though they don’t actually bite humans can cause a runny nose, and sneezing.  They also can be the cause of some skin rashes.  For a person who has asthma, high humidity can actually cause you to go into an asthma attack.  

 

Low Humidity Health Risks

 

Just like high humidity is bad, also too low of humidity can be just as bad.  During the winter when the months are dry, and we are running our heaters that suck a lot of the moisture out of the air it can cause the humidity to be too low in our house.  Too little humidity can cause nose bleeds, and swelling of lungs.  It can also cause skin dryness, peeling and cracking, along with inflammation, and eczema.  When there isn’t enough humidity in the air viruses and bacteria can last longer.  Meaning you are more susceptible at catching the flu, or a cold.  There are more respiratory illnesses when the air is not humid.  

Outside humidity we have no control over.  There are some things however we can do to regulate our humidity in our homes. 

 

Humidity Control Solutions

 

First you can start by getting a hygrometer, which is a humidity sensor.  This will help you keep track of what your indoor humidity is.  If your house is too dry you can run a humidifier to put moisture back into the air.  Make sure when running a humidifier you don’t run it for too long and that it is up off the ground and doesn’t make your carpet damp or wet to the touch. 

During the winter months make sure your house is sealed appropriately to keep the moisture inside the house, and the dry air out.  If your house is too humid, you can use a dehumidifier which helps suck some moisture out of the air.  This is a very good solution for people who have terrible allergies, or asthma to help in the summer months the house not be too humid. 

If you have a mold problem or dust mite problem look into having professionals come in and demold or clean your house of mold and dust mites.  Mold can very easily get out of hand quickly and it isn’t always safe for you to handle yourself.  

 

Humidity can do a lot more to your health than just make your hair frizzy.  Though there are lots of choices in the hair aisle at stores to help fix that problem, you will want to make sure to fix your humidity in your homes so that it stays in the acceptable range.  With just a few fixes and a hygrometer, you can make sure you house stays in the range of good humidity so your respiratory functions, and skin don’t have to suffer. 


Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/health/dust-mites-bites

Effects of Humidity on Your Body

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5 Surprising Effects High Humidity Has on the Human Body


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HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

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Written by HealthStatus Team
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

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