Over the course of our medical journey for our daughter (childhood cancer, nephrotic syndrome & adrenal insufficiency), I had several medical professionals mention the benefits of a humidifier in the home to aid in killing viral illnesses – like the flu.
Sure enough, medical journals suggest that increasing the AH (absolute humidity) and RH (relative humidity) of your home, may lead to a drop in viral survival rates.
“While field studies are necessary to confirm our modeling results, our findings suggest that indoor humidification will increase AH and RH to levels shown to reduce levels of the influenza virus. In this way, humidifiers may be an important tool to reduce survival influenza virus in the home.”
Here is a journal and link to the National Institute of Health’s website where I found this information:
Modeling the airborne survival of influenza virus in a residential setting: the impacts of home humidification
By: Theodore A Myatt, Matthew H Kaufman, […], and James J McDevitt
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2940868/
Admittedly, I haven’t had humidifiers in our house since our move several years ago. At that time, the house had radiator heat and extremely dry air (it was also at a higher latitude), so I noticed the need for a humidifier more in that home than in others.
In our new home, there’s a humidifying system as a part of the heating system. I fully admit that I have no clue as to how it works, but it does give a humidity percentage for our home.
I am going to read more about our heating system and the humidity feature.
In the meantime, I am ordering a few humidifiers for the house (one for each bedroom).
You can find the humidifiers I ordered here: https://amzn.to/33gHQAt
I’m not sure when I’ll be returning to work due to the current mandatory quarantine, but in the future, I’d like to purchase this portable humidifier for my classroom.
You can find it here: https://amzn.to/2QglrOc
Of course, you could order the larger humidifier for your classroom space, too.
CAUTION: Adding these humidifiers to your home and work space means that routine cleaning and care will be important. I’m ordering the white version of the humidifier for our house, so I can be sure to tell they are being cleaned correctly.
Also, very IMPORTANT, I have learned that using distilled or demineralized water can be beneficial. Tap water contains minerals that create deposits inside the humidifier that promote bacterial growth.
Humidifiers can be extremely useful, but they can make you sick if they aren’t cleaned regularly and properly. Dirty humidifiers can lead to mold and bacteria – causing other health issues.
I will share ways to keep your humidifier clean in an upcoming blog.
As always, thank you for reading. I am not a medical professional and my blog posts are never intended to replace your medical professional’s recommendations.
Please keep in mind that I may receive very small commissions when you click on my links and make purchases; however, this does not impact my reviews & comparisons. I share links as an Amazon Affiliate, but these are real purchases. The small commissions received help to pay for this website.
Michigan Mama 