Using a humidifier is a great way to relieve an unpleasant cough. Humidifiers don't make a cough worse; they help a person feel relief by keeping the air hydrated. Moist air is useful for breaking down mucus in the chest and helping it to be released, making coughing more productive. A clean humidifier won't make your cough worse.
Instead, it can ease a cough by adding moisture to a dry environment. Breathing dry air can irritate your nose and throat and therefore cause you to cough more. It will also affect the lungs, as fluid from the nostrils will evaporate faster, leading to swelling, dry mouth, chapped lips, rash, sore throat and dry cough.A dirty and unkempt humidifier can make a cough worse. Not only can they worsen a cough, but they can also exacerbate allergies and even lead to mold disease.
Allowing a unit to expel too much moisture can create condensation on walls, which can lead to mold growth and spread throughout the home. Dirty humidifiers can cause bacteria to grow that can promote coughs and colds.Experts' opinions vary on exactly how humidifiers relieve coughs and cold symptoms. It is well known that dry air is not good for coughing. Inhaling dry air can cause or worsen a cough.
By adding moisture to the air in your home, a humidifier can help relieve dry coughs during sleep. It is difficult for young children to blow their noses effectively and remove all the mucous when they are sick.In addition to feeling bad about being sick, nasal congestion often interferes with sleep and, after a few restless nights, everyone in the house feels like a zombie. Winter air is dry due to cold outside temperatures and the use of indoor heating. Dryness can make the mucosa even more difficult to cough up or cough up.
So adding moisture to the air makes sense.But as with many things in parenting and medicine, there's actually no solid evidence to support the use of humidifiers to treat upper respiratory tract infections. Avoid irritating nasal passages and throat with a humidifier to stop allergies and sinus symptoms in your home. If used correctly following the advice above and in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, the use of humidifiers is not likely to be harmful.A humidifier will also reduce inflammation, nasal congestion and prevent coughs from being transmitted to others. Because different people can experience different results, even if you're not completely sure that a humidifier is good enough for you, there's nothing wrong with getting it.According to Mayo Clinic, humidifiers come in steam or cold steam versions (the latter is also known as a vaporizer).
Steam vaporizers can get dirty quickly, but are also among the easiest to clean. If you find that you don't need the humidifier because your relative humidity is already sufficient, then consider buying distilled water or pre-boiled water to use in the humidifier to prevent chemicals, such as fluoride or other herbicides used in tap water, from becoming part of the air you breathe.But not many people realize that when you use it in your humidifier, tap water additives, such as fluoride and herbicides, become part of the air you breathe, as they spread into the air through the moisture emitted by the humidifier. If you don't know what your relative humidity is, then you have no way of knowing if you need a humidifier working in the first place.Adding moisture to the air by operating a humidifier at night can help alleviate symptoms and improve sleep quality. While most humidifiers have the same basic function - adding moisture to the air - there are many types available.
Experts continue to recommend cold steam humidifiers instead of steam vaporizers to avoid the risk of steam burns or spills. Mayo Clinic recommends that if you buy a humidifier, you buy one with a built-in hygrometer called a humidistat.
