Its twelve degrees outside but you wake up every morning feeling like youve been trekking through the Sahara. Your eyes feel dry and crusty. You can feel the sand in you throat and your skin is cracking between your fingers. What’s the deal?
If you’re one of the many Americans who heat their homes with forced-air distribution systems, hot air is blowing in your bedroom every day. This increases the air’s water vapor capacity without adding water. When you combine that with the fact that colder temperatures mean dryer air outside, too, its little wonder that you wake up looking for a glass of water-especially if already get overnight dry mouth.
So does that mean you have to decide whether to run the furnace overnight or shiver in your bed? Not at all. A humidifier is all you need.
Humidifiers can use various techniques to add moisture to the air. Not only should they help with that morning dryness, but they may also help alleviate coughing and sneezing, snoring, sinus headaches, and bloody noses. The benefits of humidifiers are so real, in fact, that when I visited the doctor recently complaining of a lingering winter cold, the very first thing she asked me was whether I was using a humidifier overnight. (I am.)
Humidifiers come in all shapes, sizes, and price points, but here are a few important things to know before you buy:
- Different humidifiers work differently.Evaporative humidifiers draw air in to moisten it. Cool mist and warm-mist humidifiers blow mist into the air. Ultrasonic humidifiers produce moisture by vibrating. You can also install humidifiers in your furnace’s ductwork.
- Theres no one kind of humidifier thats empirically better than others, so youll have to figure out whats important to you. Evaporative humidifiers and mist humidifiers are generally less expensive but they require filters, which must be changed regularly, and can also spread bacteria. Although ultrasonic humidifiers are quiet and do not require a filter they can leave behind chalky dust.
- Follow the operation and cleaning instructions.Make sure you change your humidifier’s filter regularly if it has one. Even the germ-free models require cleaning. I recommend spending a little more to get a humidifier with non-electrical parts that can be put in the dishwasher.
(Ive done both of these things and theres no shame in either.)
Waking up all dried out doesnt feel good and it isnt good for you. Remember to keep hydrated, use lots of lotion and lip balm, and get that humidifier. You won’t get any benefit from nighttime desert treks.
