19 Most Common Symptoms of Dry Air In the House

Each of the symptoms of dry air in the house is a reason to buy a humidifier today.

Of course, if you live in one of the regions that experience dry air, the telltale signs are all over. Perhaps it is dry and cracked skin, chapped lips, wheezing, sneezing and coughing.

They all mean one thing: your air is too dry, and it is playing havoc with your health.

Of course, when you notice the symptoms of dry air in the house, your first instinct is to go online and buy a humidifier on Amazon.com.

Indoor dry air in the house manifests itself in various ways on the furniture, the walls, as well as on your health. Common symptoms of dry air include a stuffy nose, breathing issues, running nose, warped wood, cracking paint, snoring, and cracking skin.

There is nothing wrong with that at all. However, I find it much easier to first find out a few things about the cause of dry air.

Also read: Pure Enrichment humidifier not working

Now, some people wait until they start experiencing dry air symptoms so that they can buy a humidifier. You can save yourself the trouble of cracked skin and other dry indoor air indications.

Get a humidifier

If you live in these areas, you will probably need a humidifier:

  • Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Colorado Springs in Colorado
  • Phoenix and Tucson, both in Arizona
  • Las Vegas in Nevada
  • Denver in Colorado
  • Albuquerque in New Mexico
  • Minneapolis, Minnesota and many others

You might also want to find out a few ways in which you can increase indoor humidity naturally. It is possible, you know. Besides, what do you have to lose?

Also read: Why is my dehumidifier blowing cold air

18 symptoms of dry air in the house 

symptoms of dry air in the house 

For the safety of your family, you can never be too careful about indoor living conditions. When the weather is cold and dry, you have to turn on the heater, hence the need for a humidifier.

In some places, winter comes with a lot of dry air. You need to have all these at your fingertips.

Here are the symptoms of dry air in the house:

1. Unexplained nosebleeds

Dry air irritates the nerve endings in your nasal membranes, something that causes them to rupture and start bleeding. But you do not even have to wait for the bleeding because you can feel it when the air is too dry.

You should remember that the nose plays many roles, of course, apart from taking air into the lungs. It humidifies the air that you breathe. However, that is mostly possible when the conditions are right. Too dry air causes the nose lining to dry out.

When the nasal linings of the nose become too dry, if you rub your nose, it can start bleeding. Watch out for nosebleeds in your kids too. When kids experience dry air, they feel irritated, and they may rub their noses furiously.

2. Constant dry throat

The basic principle of human anatomy is that the body has a lot of water. Most of this is exhibited in the moistness that is found in the airways and the alimentary canal.

Also read: Why is my dehumidifier blowing hot air

When you have dry indoor air, apart from the skin, the airways and the throat are the first places to start experiencing the symptoms of dry air.

Listen to your throat. If it feels too dry, it is mostly because the indoor air is too dry. However, if you have a cold or flu, you could be having sore throat symptoms. So rule out everything else and look for other symptoms of dry air.

3. When you feel that the air is too dry

If you have been living in the house for some time, then you know what the indoor air feels like. You know when it is comfortable and when it is not comfortable.

If you have been feeling some irritation in the nose, the throat, and the mouth, it could be the dry air. A dry mouth is one of the dry air in-house symptoms that you should look out for.

4. When your humidity is below 30 percent

The optimum humidity is between 30 and 50 percent. If it is higher than 55 percent, say up to the 70 percent level, you have too much humidity. You can buy a dehumidifier on Amazon.com to help you lower the level of moisture in the house.

If the humidity is below 30 percent, you have a problem with dry air. You need to find a way to add some moisture to the air. A cool mist humidifier would come in very handy in such an instance.

To measure humidity, you need to buy a small handheld instrument that is called a hygrometer. It has numbers starting from 0 to 100.

These numbers are in intervals of 20. They are percentages, and they indicate the level of humidity in the house. You may also buy a digital hygrometer. It also shows you the temperature settings indoors.

High is too wet; such air could hurt your airways and lungs. At the same time, too little humidity is also not good. It will hurt your airways too.

5. Cracking paint

When the dry indoor air persists for too long, you will certainly see some changes on the walls of your house. This starts with the paint showing cracks.

Many people ignore this sign, thinking that the painting may have been done incorrectly. However, that is not right. Paint is affected by dry air.

Image of Does humidity affect paint drying time

Of course, if you are not sure that the dry air is to blame, just use your hygrometer to find out the level of humidity. You will see that the indoor air is quite dry.

6. Wood starts to warp

This applies to your wood floor. Hardwood requires a certain amount of moisture for it to stay in proper health and shape. However, when there is dry indoor air that persists for far too long, the wood starts to warp.

If you see that, just know that you need more humidity indoors. Just know it is time to get a dehumidifier!

7. Running nose

This is another of the most common symptoms of dry air indoors. What happens is that when the nasal membranes experience dry air, the nose is triggered to start running as a way of moistening its walls.

The problem is that the nose runs until the air starts to get more moisture. If the air in your home is constantly dry, then you will have a chronic runny nose.

8. Hay fever-like symptoms

We all know just how notorious the hay fever symptoms are for making our lives as miserable as possible. There is this endless irritation and sensation in the upper airways, followed by a lot of coughing, sneezing, and watery eyes.

If it is not hay fever season (mid-March to May) yet and you are already experiencing such symptoms, well, it is time to run your hygrometer and see what is not right with your indoor air.

9. Allergies are provoked easily

Dry air is one of the main triggers of allergies. Some indoor allergens, such as smoke, dust, fur, and dust mites do very well in dry air. If you have been looking for dry air in-house symptoms, do not look any further than the allergies.

Image of Can dry air make you cough

If your kids start wheezing, sneezing, coughing, running noses, and experiencing watery eyes, check the level of humidity in your home.

Raising the level of humidity indoors can help you reduce the trips that you have to make to the hospital.

10. You may develop a stuffy nose

What happens is that when the nasal membranes sense that the air you are breathing is too dry, the nose wants to compensate for that dry air.

It starts producing mucus in excess. I know we did write briefly about this in the section for runny noses. However, what we did not say is that you are going to develop a stuffy nose.

All that mucus blocks the nasal passage.

As a result, you will start to experience difficulty breathing. Medications may not work because your stuffy nose condition is not caused by bacteria, flu, or a cold.

It is caused by dry air. So until you start increasing the humidity in your indoor air, you will continue having a tough time.

11. Chapped lips 

Oh yes, we all know this one because it is so obvious. If you have very dry indoor air, no matter what moisturizing lotion you use on your skin, the effects of the dry air will still be seen easily.

When you are breathing in dry air constantly, what happens is that it sucks a lot of moisture from your body. Therefore, you start exhibiting signs of dehydration.

One of the most prominent signs of dehydration is dry, chapped lips. It shows just how the moisture has been sucked out of them by the dry air.

Of course, you cannot see the inside of your tummy to know that you are dehydrated, so you look at your skin and lips.

12. When your skin is too dry

When the skin is too dry, there is always the urge to apply more lotion. Thus, if you find that you have been applying more lotion than before and you still feel as if your skin needs some more quenching, you could be having dry air in your house.

13. If your baby cries without explanation

OK, babies cry all the time. Babies have delicate lungs, and therefore, if the air is not kept at optimum humidity, there is going to be a problem. This especially applies to areas that have good humidity levels.

As we know, humidity does not stay constant. Thus, when there is a slight change in the water content of the baby’s airways, they are affected almost immediately, causing irritation and pain. The baby cries. That is why every parent needs a good humidifier for baby’s room.

14. When you start developing skin irritation and pain

There are many effects of high humidity on your health. Likewise, dry air also has its symptoms!

One thing that happens when the skin is too dry is that it starts to crack. These are tiny cracks that you can never see with your eyes, but they are there all the same.

Image of What happens if the air in your house is too dry

Now, the bad thing is that while the cracks are tiny, the viruses and bacteria all around us are tinier, and therefore they find their way into your skin easily.

If you have started feeling itchy on the skin with some pain and irritation, it is because the air is too dry, and you need to do something about it.

Instead of wasting bottles of lotion, find a good humidifier on Amazon.com to increase the amount of moisture in your indoor air.

If you feel some pain when you sweat, it is because there are tiny cracks in the skin, and the salt in the sweat irritates them. Listen to your skin! It will tell you when to get that humidifier running.

Another thing that can tell you that you have dry indoor air is that when you touch your skin, you really do feel the dryness. You will just feel it. It is hard to hide.

15. Your eyes start stinging and you feel irritated

The bad thing about dry indoor air is that it attempts to suck moisture from everywhere, even your body. Now, eyes contain a good amount of water all the time. Even they might start to dry up.

When your eyes start getting too dry, you will know, and that is a sign that you are dealing with low humidity in the house.

If the eyes are itchy, just start increasing the level of humidity indoors, and you will certainly start seeing an improvement.

Of course, other things could also cause eye irritation. You should see a physician to rule out other causes of irritation in the eyes. However, start by running a humidifier for a couple of days and see how it turns out.

16. If you experience cold, dry winters

What happens when all the water freezes in winter? It means that the air is dry, almost hurtful, and the same cold, dry winter air attempts to suck the moisture out of your body.

If you live in the cities that we mentioned at the beginning of this article, do not even wait to see the symptoms of dry indoor air. Just buy a whole house humidifier and keep it handy. Certainly, you will need it.

17. When there is too much dust indoors

A humidifier will subdue the dust in the air in your house. However, when the humidity is too low, every time you touch the blinds or the curtains, dust will fly.

If you see any dust particles floating in the air, know that you may have dry indoor air. You need to do something about it. Your family’s comfort is only a humidifier away.

18. When you start to snore

If your partner has been digging you in the ribs at night with her elbow because of your snoring, well, you could be a victim.

If you are not a habitual snorer, you need to check your humidity. It could be too low, and it could be the cause of your snoring.

When you sleep on your back and your throat muscles relax, you can snore as the air vibrates over the throat membranes. However, moist air can subdue the snoring. On the same note, dry air will enhance snoring.

19. Static electricity

When you feel that sharp zap when you touch the door knob or when your silk pajamas hit you with a mild shock once they touch your skin, well, you know you have dry air in the house. It causes static electricity in the house.

Conclusion

If you have been experiencing any of the aforementioned symptoms of dry air in the house, you need to do something about it.

One of the things that you can do is buy a humidifier and increase the moisture content in the air. You could also use natural methods to enhance the moisture in the air in your house.

Also check my other articles on:

What is a humidifier pad?

Can Mold Grow At 60 Percent Humidity?

Can A Humidifier Cause Mold In Room?

Is Air Purifier Good For Mold?

How To Remove Mold Spores From The Air In The House

Is Black Mold In Humidifier Dangerous