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Should the humidifier run all night?
“The dryness of the air should determine whether a humidifier runs all night. If the air is extra dry, then running a humidifier continuously till the relative humidity is back into the 40 to 60% range is what is needed and perfectly all right regardless of whether it’s the daytime or at night.”
Humidifiers can be an absolute lifesaver when the air is super dry and causing all types of side effects like chapped lips, bloody noses, congestion, static electricity, and cracking skin.
Humidifiers are simply devices that add moisture back into the air. A machine that you put water into, that mist it out back into the air as humidity.
There are plenty of telltale signs that the relative humidity of your air is too low.
Like we mentioned above, symptoms like dried and cracking skin, chapped lips, congestion and bloody nasal passages can all start showing up when the humidity is too low.
And if you find yourself getting a static electric shock when you touch certain items and other people, you more than certainly are looking at an issue with dryness in your air.
Knowing when to use a humidifier doesn’t have to be a guessing game.
And in fact taking the guesswork out of it could keep you from having to experience the side effects of having low humidity in your home at all.
Humidity can be measured by a hygrometer and adjusted to remain at the right level by a humidistat, just like the temperature can be measured and adjusted on a thermostat.
According to the National Library of Medicine” The majority of adverse health effects caused by relative humidity would be minimized by maintaining indoor levels between 40 and 60%. “
Most reference materials say that the ideal relative humidity should be 30 to 50%. So with that in mind, 45% is probably the ideal number.
So knowing when to use a humidifier is not a question of whether it is daytime or night time, but a question of what the relative humidity level is at the moment and how long it will take to become optimal.
The new modern humidifiers all have a digital humidity gauge or hygrometer and most come with a set it and leave it humidistat so that you can dial the level of humidity that you desire into the machine and then let it do its work.
And of course, provided your humidity level is not already too high, it won’t hurt anything to have the humidifier on while you sleep if it’s bringing you the relief you need to rest.
Humidifiers have come a long way baby.
I remember not so long ago, our humidifier being the most basic plastic appliance you can think of.
And though you can still buy those drugstore humidifiers for cheap.
The good humidifiers are actually an investment these days and come with a plethora of features and advantages.
A Few of the Newest Revolutionary features you can find in humidifiers
1. Top fill
One of the features that you can find on humidifiers these days is the ability to fill it from the top.
Filling up the humidifier has always been one of the worst things about using one to me.
You had to take the water basin off and turn it upside down to fill it from the faucet.
And unless you were using the bathtub, they generally didn’t go under the faucet too well.
The progression to being able to fill the humidifier from the top makes a ton of difference in the usability and convenience.
And a lot less messy.
2. Wi-Fi
Who would ever think that having the humidifier hooked up to the Wi-Fi would be such a good idea.
My initial reaction would be “what’s the point?”
But being able to know the relative humidity of the room and being able to adjust it right from the phone is very handy when you’re at work and want to make sure that you come home to a restful environment.
And the water level alert coupled with the voice command of Alexa is very helpful.
3. Hot or Cold
You can purchase humidifiers these days that run as either cool mist or warm mist humidifiers depending on what you need.
This is a very big innovation in the humidifier world.
Up too recently if you wanted a warm mist humidifier, you had to have a separate vaporizer for that.
Two different appliances that did the same thing only at different temperatures. Amazingly redundant.
And using a humidifier as a vaporizer is an excellent way to remove the threat of bacteria growing in the humidifier.
Now with the Levoit lv600s you can use your humidifier as a cool mist humidifier or as a vaporizer and a aromatherapy diffuser to boot.
4. Aromatherapy diffuser
There’s no need anymore to have a separate diffuser from a humidifier.
Diffusers have become a standard feature on most humidifiers.
And though this is very convenient, most of these humidifiers / diffusers require you to use their own essential oil blend.
So the cost is a little more.
5. Hygrometer / Humidistat
This is probably the most innovative and most important feature that you will find on the new breed of humidifiers.
Being able to dial in the humidity level that you need and then letting your humidifier be able to do the rest is an absolute game changer.
Unfortunately it still doesn’t fill the water for you or clean the machine,
But it is a feature that I would not go without now.
6. Germ-free/ Self cleaning
Though there is yet to be a humidifier that can completely keep a humidifier from getting moldy or growing bacteria, the goal is getting very close.
A couple of the technologies that you can find are UV light and antimicrobial plastic.
a. UV light
UV light in a humidifier seems like a no-brainer. After all, it has been used forever to keep bacteria and fungi from growing in aquariums.
It’s also responsible for the blue light in the liquid containers that you see barbershops soaking their Combs and scissors in.
UV ultraviolet light is a logical addition that is recently being incorporated into humidifiers.
b. Antimicrobial plastic
This is another absolutely amazing addition to the humidifier world.
Using antimicrobial plastics in the actual materials that the humidifier are made of means that bacteria cannot grow on the plastic.
These two technologies, UV light and antimicrobial plastic materials working together seems like an amazing combo to keep a humidifier becoming a germ farm.
But of course these are all just extra icing on the cake and you can get away without any of them.
But if I only had one of these features to choose from, it would definitely be the hygrometer and humidistat.
Being able to know what your relative humidity is and then being able to sit a humidifier to reach that humidity and keep it there is invaluable.
But if that’s not an option, you can always buy a cheap hygrometer and turn the humidifier on and off as needed according to the reading on the hygrometer humidity gauge.
Can you use a humidifier all night?
Using a humidifier all night can make for a restful sleep. And as long as the humidity is not too high, there is nothing that will harm.
But the better question is “do you need to use the humidifier all night?”
Is your humidity level according to your hygrometer humidity gauge below the 40% mark that the NLM says is the lowest that the humidity level in your home should be.
If it is, and it takes it all night to get to the right level, then using the humidifier all night is the perfect thing to do.
But an even more perfect way is to purchase a humidifier with a hygrometer / humidistat. Which is essentially a thermometer, but for humidity.
With this feature on your humidifier, you can set the level of humidity at 45%, and the humidifier will get the moisture level in the room to that point and keep it there.
