Dry skin, rhinitis, allergies… See how a humidifier can help –

With the arrival of autumn and winter, some regions of Brazil suffer with dry weather. The lack of humidity can lead to beautiful days with blue skies and cold weather, but they also guarantee respiratory allergies and dryness in the nose and throat, as well as on the skin. If you’re on the team that needs to reinforce hydration during this period and if you don’t know what else to do to deal with dry eyes and throat that wake up itchy and bothering you, we have a solution! We went after understanding everything about using humidifiers and whether this beauty can really help.

For those with respiratory allergies…

The news is the best! According to Dr. Maura Neves, otorhinolaryngologist from the Brazilian Association of Otorhinolaryngology and Cervico-Facial Surgery, having a humidifier in the room can help a lot during the dry period. “It helps to increase the humidity in the air, which helps to avoid respiratory crises such as rhinitis and asthma”, she says.

For those who need to understand a little more how this dynamic works, it is simpler than it seems. Dry air, when inhaled, irritates and inflames the airway. This irritation can affect both the upper airway (such as the nose and pharynx) and the lower airways, such as the trachea and lungs. “For gas exchange to take place properly in the lungs, the air must be conditioned: heated, filtered and humidified. The drier the inhaled air, the more the airways need to humidify it”, explains the doctor.

That is, having a humidifier nearby does the job of heating and humidifying the air for you, which means less overload for your body and, consequently, less irritation and allergic crises. Best of all, there are no contraindications for its use, but the recommendation is to avoid humidifying the air if the environment is already humid by itself or if the climate itself is more humid. That means possibly retiring your humidifier for the summer months when it rains the most and putting it aside for the winter.

Oh, and one more tip: the idea is not to leave the device on all day, but to prioritize it during periods of the day that are also drier. “Usually, in the afternoon, the relative humidity of the air drops and breathing difficulties increase. However, humidifiers can be used at any time. I suggest not leaving it on at night to avoid fires and to avoid always keeping it in the same place so as not to create moisture in a specific location or wall”, completes the professional.

Furthermore, here is the warning: mixtures of water with essencial oilssuch as lavender, are common for those who have humidifiers, but if respiratory sensitivity is high, the ideal is to avoid them, as they can trigger new allergy crises.

For those of you with dry skin…

The news is good too! As we have already mentioned, during the winter, the relative humidity of the air decreases a lot (it can reach values ​​below 30%), which means that the dryness of mucous membranes and skin, in addition to respiratory problems, tend to worsen. As the humidifier works as a compensation mechanism, increasing the relative humidity of the air, it is the least that it also help with dry skinIs not it?

“Since the skin is our largest organ, it suffers a lot, as the dry environment leaves the skin more dehydrated, with excessive loss of water”, explains the Dr. Roberta Padovan, specialist in Aesthetic Medicine and Dermatology by INCISA. “With a more humid environment, skin dryness problems are reduced and sebum production is balanced – as it is the substance responsible for protecting the skin barrier”, he explains.

Those who deal with problems such as rosacea, psoriasis and even atopic dermatitis can breathe a sigh of relief, because the humidifier helps maintain this skin barrier and prevents the worsening of these conditions. The indication for use, however, is the same for those with respiratory allergies: the ideal is to keep it on for a maximum of 4 hours straight and turn off the device before going to bed.