Can A Dehumidifier Make You Sick? It Improves Your Health!
Can a dehumidifier make you sick? It has its side effects but making you unwell is not one of them.
What does a dehumidifier do for your health, that is, apart from improving it? Well, if you live in a humid city like London, Manchester, Birmingham or Bournemouth in the United Kingdom, you will need a dehumidifier.
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The same applies if you live in a place like Tampa in Florida or Houston in Texas. However, even as you buy a dehumidifier like the 70-Pint Frigidaire, you must wonder whether it can have any side effects on you. And why not? Every appliance has its benefits and its flip side.
So, can a dehumidifier make you sick? If indoor humidity is below 30 percent, if you don’t keep hydrated by drinking water and you stay indoors with the dehumidifier running all the time, you could suffer some side effects. For example, dry air can make pneumonia worse. You may experience migraines because of dehydration. Other things include dry and parched skin and lips, itchy eyes and breathlessness.
I guess what we are trying to say here is that a dehumidifier has some side effects. So, for people asking: Can a dehumidifier be harmful; it can be if you overuse it.
The most important thing to do is to know the required indoor humidity level to maintain all the time. That way, your air will never be left too dry.
You might want to read our article on how to stop humidifier white dust.
Side Effects of Dehumidifier
Here, we are going to look at some side effects of dehumidifier, and there are several of them. For instance, we shall see how a dehumidifier can dehydrate you.
In addition, we will also find out whether you can contract dehumidifier sore throat. Keep reading to see some of the disadvantages of a dehumidifier.
1. Dehumidifier sinus issues
This is like a case of a double edged sword. On one hand, too much humidity in the air can be bad for sinuses. On the other hand, when air is too dry, it can aggravate sinus problems.
So, can dry air cause sinus issues? When you run the dehumidifier for a long time, the indoor air can be too dry. In addition, dry air causes sinusitis.
In response, the body leads to increased secretion of mucus. If you have asthma, too much mucus production would not be good for you.
Some sinus issues are allergen-caused. In such cases, running a dehumidifier might not really help because most allergens such as pollen, dust mites and dust itself thrive in dry air.
Therefore, in such a case, you would do better to run a humidifier for allergies. Increasing humidity makes such allergens heavy and they fall to the ground. Therefore, you cannot inhale them because they are not floating in the air.
2. Can you get dehumidifier sore throat issues
Can dehumidifier cause sore throat? To some extent, it can cause a lot of throat irritation. When you are suffering from sore throat, one of the remedies is to keep your indoor air hydrated.
You can also gurgle warm and salty water. However, you will experience a bout of discomfort every time you take a gasp of dry air.
So yes, when the air is too dry, it is easier to get sore throat than when there is good humidity. In addition, dry air makes colds more irritating.
3. Can a dehumidifier dehydrate you?
This is a very common question. However, the truth is that a dehumidifier will not cause dehydration even if you run it throughout the day and night.
Some of the things that cause dehydration include not drinking enough water and fluids such as juices, soups and so on.
Therefore, you can keep the optimum indoor humidity level all the time, but if you do not drink enough, you will still feel dehydrated.
But there is something to note. If the dehumidifier makes the air too dry and then there is enough heat to make you sweat, we could say that it can cause dehydration.
On the same note though, it is important to note that a dehumidifier just removes excess moisture from the air. Therefore, it will never make the air too dry unless you enter the wrong settings.
Therefore, always set the humidity level at 40 or 50%. That way, when the dehumidifier gets rid of the excess moisture to that level, it will stop.
So NO – a dehumidifier is really not going to dehydrate you.
4. Can dehumidifier cause headaches?
Well, to be more precise, perhaps we should ask: can dry air give you a headache? As a matter of fact, dry air is going to cause headaches.
The reason for this is that the mucus membranes in the nasal cavities dry up. Therefore, when more dry air passes over the membranes, they become inflamed and painful. Therefore, this results to headaches.
Another way in which low humidity might cause dry air is that most materials indoors do off-gas when the air is dry.
You will be surprised that building materials contain formaldehyde gas, which they release when the air is too dry. When you inhale such, you can experience headaches.
Other innocent items such as window curtains, shower curtains, wall paint and others might contain poisonous substances.
They may release these substances, albeit in very minute quantities but which can also cause headaches.
5. Dehumidifier for cough
In another article, we looked at what is better between humidifier and dehumidifier for cough. Of course, a humidifier is better.
However, to some extent, a dehumidifier might also help with a cough. You see, the point of using a dehumidifier is not to make the air dry. It is to remove excess moisture from the air.
When the air is too dry, it might make a dry cough even worse. In addition, when the air is too humid, it may aggravate asthma and other respiratory issues.
Now, how might the dehumidifier help with your cough then? The dehumidifier will help you to recover faster from allergy-caused coughs.
However, in most cases, a humidifier is better for sinuses and congestion issues since it helps to loosen mucus.
Conclusion
What does a dehumidifier do for your health and are the dehumidifier side effects more than the benefits?
Well, we cannot overemphasize the importance of having this important appliance at home. You will need it in summer.
In addition, if you live in a humid place such as Cairns, Queensland in Australia, you might need to run a dehumidifier most of the year. It will not be harmful.
To the question of can a dehumidifier make you sick, it does not. Sure, there are some disadvantages of a dehumidifier, but making you sick is not one of them.
