According to recent statistics, around 55% of the American public suffers from allergies. A large number of these allergens are airborne, and more than most people realize are floating around our homes that can’t be detected by the naked eye. 

Most Americans also spend the majority of our working hours staying indoors, particularly during the winter months. While an air purifier is a good idea to have for relieving allergy symptoms, you should also seriously consider buying a portable humidifier to have nearby while you are indoors, especially if you find that you're often dealing with respiratory problems or congestion.

You may be wondering how personal humidifiers can help alleviate the symptoms of allergies.  Humidifiers assist in keeping the nasal passages and the mucous membranes moist to provide a more natural and comfortable breathing environment. 

Maintaining an adequate level of moisture in the nasopharynx is particularly important during the driest winter months when temperatures drop, and we begin using furnaces, heaters, and other devices to further dry out the already dry room air. 

Indoors, we have artificial heat piped in,  and as we crank up the thermostat, we also unknowingly further lower the humidity in the air all around us, leading to even more dry air. This can make breathing very difficult, especially for allergy sufferers. The respiratory organs, including the lungs and bronchial tubes, become dry and irritated. This situation frequently lands a lot of us in the doctor's office, with symptoms like a dry throat, dry skin, and much more.

Because of this, you'll want to keep a close eye on the humidity levels in your house. In an ideal world, humidity levels hover between 35% and 40%. Indoor humidity levels can be easily determined by buying a wireless humidifier to improve the humidity in the air. Most have a handy and easy-to-read humidity monitor installed in them. 

Personal humidifiers for your home can significantly improve indoor air quality, especially in the drier seasons of the year. 

Things To Know About Personal Humidifiers

Upkeep

Whatever type of humidifier you decide to use, it will require regular maintenance in order to operate properly and keep your humidified air safe. The most important thing to remember is to keep the unit clean and replace the filter regularly to prevent the growth of disease-causing bacteria and mold. 

Also, you'll need to refill the water tank regularly, which is usually more than once a day for personal models. Certain models require different care. For example, you care for a warm mist humidifier or a vaporizer in a different way than you'd care for one that uses ultrasonic technology to release water vapor. When you're choosing what kind to purchase, upkeep is an important factor to keep in mind. 

Size Of Your Rooms

The most affordable personal cool mist humidifiers that you'll come across while shopping is made to accommodate small spaces. To humidify a bigger space, for large rooms, or for humidifying multiple rooms in your house, you will likely need a bigger machine that can accommodate larger spaces.

If all you need to handle is a small-sized room or the area around your bed, a personal cool mist humidifier like a tabletop or similarly compact model will suffice. Smaller-sized units are made to humidify spaces that are between 300 to 500 square feet.

Large-sized humidifiers can usually accommodate from 500 to 1,000 square feet. There are also whole-house humidifiers that can handle more than 1,000 square feet if needed.

Look at the product’s specifications when shopping for any cool-mist humidifier to provide the exact information that you need to know about room size. If you’re not sure what size your room is, you should measure it prior to settling on any particular model to buy. A humidifier that is too small won’t provide the humidity you need to make the air have a more healthy humidity.

Other Things To Consider

Noise

When installing a humidifier in a bedroom or other small room, you need to look at the types of humidifiers available and try to get one that operates quietly enough for you to be able to sleep while it is operating. 

Evaporative-style cool mist humidifiers operate using a small fan, which makes the unit operate more loudly than the ultrasonic cool mist humidifiers. That said, there are some models that are made to have a more quiet operation than others. Ultrasonic humidifiers are newer in design and have been made to operate more quietly than evaporative units. If you have any trouble sleeping with a small fan running in the room, you probably should choose an ultrasonic humidifier.

Water Tank Capacity

Refilling the tank is the most regular maintenance that is associated with owning a cool-mist humidifier. The larger the area you are using the humidifier in, the faster it will consume water. If it has a bigger tank, you can go without refilling it longer. If having to add water to the tank frequently will be a negative for you, try to find a humidifier with a larger capacity tank. 

Style of The Humidifier

Since your humidifier will probably be out in the open, exposed on a table near where you will be to humidify the room air, you’ll want to take into account how it looks. There are a lot of options to choose what different humidifiers look like, so you can find that suits your own personal preferences. 

Other Specifications and Extras:

• Combination Models — Some humidifiers have both warm and cool mist settings, which can be advantageous if you choose to alternate between them during the seasons.
• Can you use essential oils with it? — Some humidifiers have a separate tray that allows you to use it as an essential oil diffuser for aromatherapy purposes. There are oils to improve your mood, help you deal with symptoms of coughs or sore throat, and much more.
• Humidistat — A humidistat monitors the room's humidity level and automatically turns the humidifier off when the desired level of humidity is reached and back on when the room falls below it.
• Timer — If you don't want the humidifier to run continuously, you can program it to turn on and off at predetermined times of the day. This will save lots of your time refilling the water and also ensure that you return home to a humidified space at the end of your workday.
• Adjustable Output — This choice enables you to control the level of humidity in your room somewhat more. If you're concerned about the humidifier creating an excessive amount of moisture, this gives you more control to prevent that.
• Maintenance Reminders — If you have trouble remembering things like replacing water filters or how often to clean out your humidifier, a cool-mist humidifier with a handy built-in reminder setting would be beneficial and make sure you are keeping the unit clean and healthy.
• Automatic Shut Off — Some models will detect a low water tank and automatically shut it off if the tank is close to becoming depleted.

Sources:

Allergy Statistics | AAAAI

Humidifiers and Health: Uses, Types & Risks | Healthline

How to Clean A Humidifier (And Why You Should Often) | Allergy and Air