Don’t let the cold weather of fall and winter here in Springfield negatively affect your indoor air quality. It’s important to think about your indoor air quality especially during these dry, cold months in Oregon. You may not realize how much these weather conditions exacerbate existing respiratory problems and cold or flu symptoms. There are simple steps you can take to increase your comfort. If you want to improve your indoor air quality this season, you might want to consider a humidifier for your Springfield, OR home. We ensure that all our service technicians are educated and equipped to handle all types of indoor air quality issues.
How Cold Weather Decreases Your Indoor Air Quality
If you live in a newer home, it’s more than likely that your builders made your house incredibly energy efficient. While this is great for your energy savings, it can cause problems with your indoor air quality because your home is so tightly sealed. This tight seal keeps your home from circulating fresh air when it needs it and raises the concentration of allergens and pollutants.
Winter weather worsens these conditions because the weather conditions are so cold and dry. Dry winter air makes your body more prone to dehydration. When you’re dehydrated the mucous membranes in your sinuses dry up and crack making you susceptible to viruses, germs, and bacteria. This is also why winter is typically cold and flu season. Installing a whole-home humidifier can help alleviate the effects of dry winter air.
Signs Poor Indoor Air Quality is Affecting You
Persistent Cold and Flu Symptoms
If you get colds during the winter and it seems to take forever for you to get better, it could be due to your indoor air quality making the situation much harder. A lack of humidity in the air during winter dries out the air in your home. Without adequate levels of moisture, cold and flu symptoms are much worse, and your body has a harder time getting over them.
Watery Eyes
A good indication that you have poor winter indoor air quality is watery eyes. Determining poor indoor air quality is often frustrating to homeowners because a lot of the symptoms are easily conflated with allergy symptoms—but don’t be fooled! If you’re experiencing dry, itchy, or watery eyes it could be due to the heightened levels of pollutants in your home’s air.
Contact wearers typically notice the effects of poor indoor air quality first. If you wear contacts and notice that your eyes are perpetually dry during this time of year and that not even eye drops help, you can benefit from a humidifier.
What You Can Do
Install a whole home humidifier! Humidity is important to boost your home’s air quality, especially in winter. If you’re tired of dry air making your cold and flu symptoms worse or exacerbating your allergy symptoms, you’ll benefit from a humidifier. At Comfort Flow Heating, we’ve serviced the area since 1961 and understand the unique needs of homes in and around Springfield.
