For those who live in climates with dry and cold winter days, it is a good idea to purchase a cool mist vaporizer. Vaporizers add moisture to the air, making rooms more comfortable.
Vaporizers are different from humidifiers. Both vaporizers and humidifiers add moisture to the air, the primary difference is that a vaporizer heats water until it turns into steam, while a humidifier uses a filter to create a mist. Pediatricians often recommend vaporizers children’s rooms instead of warm air humidifiers because they put out less bacteria in the air, and children are less likely to get burned. It is important to clean humidifier air filters often to eliminate bacteria, and to clean out and dry vaporizers to reduce air-borne bacteria. Vaporizers tend to be significantly less expensive than humidifiers because the heating element and filter are unnecessary; usually vaporizers cost less than $15 whereas a humidifier can run upwards of $100. An additional benefit to vaporizers is users can add menthol or other additives to the mist.
Vaporizers can help ease symptoms of cold congestion, croup, and perpetual dry skin. Following is a brief description and how vaporizers help.
Cold Congestion
The dry air of winter exacerbates many cold symptoms, especially congestion. Upper respiratory infections (a.k.a. the common cold) frequently cause nasal congestion and drip making it hard to breathe and sometimes difficult to swallow. The dry air further irritates existing symptoms. One cold treatment is breathing hot air to loosen the mucus in your nose and lungs so that it can be removed by coughing. A vaporizer further moistens the air to help cold suffers breathe.
Croup
Many parents have awoken in the middle of the night to the sound of a wheezing and coughing child. The tell-tale sound like a barking seal indicates to parents, nurses, and pediatricians that the child has croup. Croup most frequently appears during the winter and early spring months, usually affect children ages 3 months to 5 years, and symptoms tend to be worse at night and when the child is crying or upset.
Croup is a respiratory condition that leads to inflammation of the upper airway and causes young children to have difficulty breathing and have the barking cough. Fortunately, croup is generally not serious and can be treated at home. The typically recommended treatment for croup is alternating the child’s environment between a warm, steamy room and then a colder one. For example, bring the child into a bathroom that is filled with steam from a hot shower and then back into a cooler bedroom, or even outside for a few minutes. The combination of warm steam and cold will help open the child’s airways and assist their breathing. Following the steam treatment, turn on a cool-mist vaporizer in the child’s room to provide continued relief and moisture in the air.
The dry and cracking skin phenomenon of winter occurs because of low humidity levels caused by cold air outside and the hot air inside. This causes the skin loses its moisture, a problem that is aggravated by frequent bathing and hand washing, especially with harsh soaps. Again, the additional moisture in the air provided by a vaporizer can help partially alleviate dry skin.
In addition to the health benefits, vaporizers add background white noise to any room. The soothing hum of the air promotes sound sleep for children and adults alike. Not bad for $15.
