For those who have sinus problems, it is a good idea to sleep with a cool mist humidifier in your room. It is recommended to use cool mist humidifiers for cold symptoms and sinus congestion. Warm mist humidifiers haven’t been shown to lessen symptoms and can result in burns.
Sinus pain may be agonizing. When compared to a common cold, managing chronic sinus pain can be tricky. Fortunately, investing in a humidifier for sinus problems may help.
When compared to acute sinusitis, which is typically caused by an infection, chronic sinusitis frequently has more complicated symptoms and the causes may be difficult or multi-factorial to determine.
According to experts, sinus problems are not always related to infections. The nose’s abnormal anatomy or sinuses may contribute to chronic sinusitis. Such include sinus polyps, nasal polyps or deviated septum.
In addition to that, environmental allergies are more common in those who have chronic sinusitis. In fact, some people have chronic sinusitis due to immune system problems. If you have chronic congestion or sinus pain, you must see your doctor to get further evaluation.
If there’s one thing you can do to help you experience relief from sinus problems, you should sleep with a cool mist humidifier in your room. But, there are also some who experience relief from using warm mist humidifiers.
Adding moisture to the air you’re breathing using humidifiers may help relieve sinus congestion through loosening up mucus secretions of nasal passages.
How Humidifiers Prevent Sinusitis?
During particular times of the year, especially during winter season, air is dry both outdoors and indoors. Inhaling it can have adverse effects on your sinuses including cracked and dry nostrils, blocked sinus passages, general irritation, and thicker mucus.
Usually, thick drainage is a sign of sinusitis. It’s also a predisposition to sinus infections. Generally, mucus represents healthier sinuses. The mist from humidifiers helps in moistening the air, which helps in thinning out the mucus in your sinuses and nose.
Moisturizing air can reduce the symptoms of sinusitis including sore threats, headache, and nasal congestion. Humidifiers are by no means a good cure for such ailments. Experts remind patients with chronic and acute sinusitis are serious health conditions and consulting with your doctor is essential.
Warm Mist Humidifiers for Sinuses
Warm mist humidifiers release hot steam in the room, which is heated by a radiator in the appliance. This kind of model boils water from the tank, which creates a hot steam spray that spreads to the room.
Other warm mist humidifiers come with mineral water absorption system, which prevents white dust to be released in your room. Many units also include a reservoir, where you can put essential oils that double as aromatherapy diffusers.
Essential oils including peppermint, eucalyptus, lavender, oregano, thyme, tea tree, cinnamon, lemon, and so on can help you breathe better and provide relief for those who have congested sinuses.
The benefits of a warm mist humidifier include the following:
- Steam gently heats air in the room
- Hot steam has calming effects during flu and cold season, enabling your airways to relax
- Since humidifiers heat in the water in the tank, it eliminates germs, viruses, and mold that prevents their presence in breathable air
- Several doctors recommend using warm mist humidifier due to the warm air being released in the air and makes breathing much easier
Cool Mist Humidifiers for Sinuses
Cool mist humidifiers don’t have an element, which can heat water vapor once released to the room. So this can be either the same temperature of your room or a low one. Cool mist humidifiers use two methods for dispersing mist in the room, which include ultrasonic or evaporation waves.
Evaporation humidifiers have a fan, which directs air from the room through the filter that absorbs water in humidifier container. When air is pushed by the fan to its filter, it evaporates and dispersed in the air, which humidifies the nearby area. Among various cool mist humidifiers, it humidifies the room naturally. However, it can be noisy.
Ultrasonic cool mist humidifiers don’t come with a fan and have modern features instead. These are equipped with vibrant metal membranes that use ultrasonic frequency to divide water from the tank to small drops and turn this to a cold mist, which is released to the room. This kind of humidifier is silent.
Some of the benefits of a cool mist humidifier are as follows:
- It is silent and can be used best in nursery rooms.
- Pediatricians recommend such models to keep diphtheria symptoms under control that makes it useful for toddlers and babies
- Cool mist humidifiers are cheaper
- There’s no risk of burning or scalding during use that makes it safer for children
- Uses less electricity in comparison to warm mist humidifiers, making it more energy efficient
Can a Cool Mist Humidifier Help Prevent Stuffy Nose?
If you’re some of those who have stuffy nose during cold season, do not blame it on your cold. More often than not, nasal congestion is a common condition, which happens when blood vessels in nose become inflamed and tissue swells, making stuffy feeling.
Humidifiers, whether cool or warm mist humidifiers, can be very helpful. Mist humidifies air in the room and may thin the mucus in your nose and let it leak, which releaser the nose.
Cool mist humidifiers are recommended since cold air reduces the inflammation of your nasal membranes. But, for it to be very effective, your humidifier should be clean. The reason behind it is that it could spread harmful bacteria with soothing mist and could worsen your sinus problems.
Buying and installing humidifiers in your home isn’t the only way to relieve sinus problems.
You may also maximize the effects that moisturized air has on your sinus through sleeping in an elevated position to help drainage after mucus has been thinned. Depending on what works best for you, make sure to purchase a quality made warm mist humidifier or cool mist humidifier.
