However, with the indirect effects, you may be unaware of the toll they are taking on your body for a while. High indoor humidity can change the indoor environment of your home or workplace, making it easy for you to become ill, especially with respiratory infections. Bacteria and viruses thrive in humid conditions.
High levels of moisture in the air can trigger bronchoconstriction, or the narrowing of airways, in people with asthma. This leads to a flare-up in asthma symptoms, like coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath.
If there's more moisture in the air, it results in reduced oxygen levels. While some people's COPD symptoms get better in humid weather, less oxygen may make it harder for others to breathe. If there's a higher dew point and less available oxygen, people with lung conditions can develop bronchospasms.
Spending time in an environment with too much humidity can actually make you sick, especially from respiratory infections. The bacteria and viruses that cause illness thrive and grow in air that's above 60 percent relative humidity.
Under appropriate exposure conditions susceptible individuals may succumb to an episode of humidifier fever, an influenza-like illness with pyrexia and malaise as the main symptoms, but cough, chest tightness, dyspnoea and weight loss may also be seen.
Repeated or prolonged exposure to high levels of some VOCs can cause blurred vision, headaches, nausea, dizziness, coughing, burning eyes, respiratory irritation, skin rashes, respiratory illness, concentration difficulties, and other symptoms.
Breathing dry air can cause respiratory ailments like asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis and nosebleeds. It can also cause dehydration. “When the air is too dry, your sinuses dry out, too,” says Dr. Limage.
Water vapor essentially suffocates our skin. On hot and humid days, your skin might feel sticky and overheated, and the air can feel so heavy that breathing becomes a chore.
High humidity creates excess moisture and condensation that potentially leads to mold or rot, while low humidity has been linked to the rapid spread of viruses like cold, flu, and even Covid-19. In this article, we'll discuss how bad humidity can cause damage to your physical property, fixtures, and fittings.
Pulmonary edema is the abnormal buildup of “fluid in the lungs.” Fluid buildup in your lungs can lead to shortness of breath, coughing up of foam and loose mucus, wheezing, chest tightness and difficulty breathing. Pulmonary edema can be life-threatening and requires immediate medical treatment.
Mold growing on interior surfaces (corner of a closet, kitchen or bathroom). Peeling, cracking or blistering paint on exterior or interior finishes. Dust allergies (caused by dust mites).
Humidity and Your Health. Germs and viruses cause disease to thrive and grow in the air with a relative humidity of more than 60%. Spending too much time in a humid environment can make you ill, especially if you commonly suffer from respiratory infections.
How Does Your Air Conditioner Reduce the Humidity in Your Home? Air conditioners reduce the humidity in the air in your home through its regular processing to cool the air. Refrigerant pumps through the evaporator coils making the temperature of the coils drop below the dew point.
If you're spotting mold in corners, on walls, or in the bathroom, your home's humidity is too high. Musty Smells: A persistent musty smell is a dead giveaway that there's too much moisture in your home. Ideally, you want to keep your home's humidity between 40% and 60%.
Dry air can cause the mucous membranes lining the nasal passages to become dehydrated, leading to discomfort such as nasal congestion, irritation and nosebleeds.
Humidity, or the amount of moisture in the air, can make the temperature feel warmer, as our sweat is slower to evaporate. Not only is the muggy air uncomfortable, but it can cause our bodies to overheat, exhaust easily, and poses a potential danger to our health.
Health Hazards of Do-It-Yourself Dehumidifiers
Here's the catch: over time, long-term exposure to calcium chloride and its dust can cause lung damage, as well as other respiratory issues in the nose and throat. It can also cause skin irritation and contaminate clothing.
Use a hygrometer to measure the humidity in the area and check if it's above 60%. If it is, then it's likely that you're dealing with a moisture issue. An easy way to keep humidity levels down in your crawl space is by installing a dehumidifier.
Essentially Toxic Building Syndrome is where the air quality in your home or office is so bad that it can affect the health of those inside. You see you might think you're breathing clean air, but in fact the air inside your home can have more than 900 harmful chemicals and organisms in it, which you simply cannot see.
Signs of poor indoor air quality may include excessive amounts of dust or increased difficulty breathing in your home. People with allergies or other breathing problems will often be some of the first to experience the effects of poor indoor air quality. Sometimes you might even smell the problem before you can see it.