An interesting thing to consider, is that face masks act as humidifiers for nasal passages.
When I first started doing cardio, my nose would dry out (mouth breathing should be avoided) to the point of being painful so I’d put on an N95 mask to retain humidity. Was a great help, though I no longer need it though.
I use an evaporative wick humidifier in my room (a Vornado Evap40). And it’s made a big quality of life improvement as well. Keeps me from waking up at night with painfully dry nasal passages.
Some tips:
* Never use ultrasonic humidifiers, those aerosolize the bacteria that inevitably grows in water, along with the minerals which can coat surfaces.
* I also recommend getting the largest capacity tanks you can find for less refilling, and looking for a fan that’s large and quiet.
* Keep humidity below 60%. (I set my cutoff to about 57%). Above this things start to feel damp, and mold growth start to become possible, especially in localized areas.
* The wick type humidifiers do have wicks as a maintenance item, I generally replace the every 1.5-2 months about, sanitizing the whole unit at the same time. Curiously, if you let them dry out, even if still pretty new, they’ll smell bad.
* The glug sounds from the water releasing from the tanks can be disturbing for a bit if you are sensitive to sounds. You do get used to it eventually. I also have a big air filter always running that provides nice white noise that that helps buffer the sudden glug noise. The only alternative really is to rig a waterline and something that can meter water into the humidifier basin without risk of failing to stop and flooding your room.
When I first started doing cardio, my nose would dry out (mouth breathing should be avoided) to the point of being painful so I’d put on an N95 mask to retain humidity. Was a great help, though I no longer need it though.
I use an evaporative wick humidifier in my room (a Vornado Evap40). And it’s made a big quality of life improvement as well. Keeps me from waking up at night with painfully dry nasal passages.
Some tips:
* Never use ultrasonic humidifiers, those aerosolize the bacteria that inevitably grows in water, along with the minerals which can coat surfaces.
* I also recommend getting the largest capacity tanks you can find for less refilling, and looking for a fan that’s large and quiet.
* Keep humidity below 60%. (I set my cutoff to about 57%). Above this things start to feel damp, and mold growth start to become possible, especially in localized areas.
* The wick type humidifiers do have wicks as a maintenance item, I generally replace the every 1.5-2 months about, sanitizing the whole unit at the same time. Curiously, if you let them dry out, even if still pretty new, they’ll smell bad.
* The glug sounds from the water releasing from the tanks can be disturbing for a bit if you are sensitive to sounds. You do get used to it eventually. I also have a big air filter always running that provides nice white noise that that helps buffer the sudden glug noise. The only alternative really is to rig a waterline and something that can meter water into the humidifier basin without risk of failing to stop and flooding your room.