In winter, there’s an increased chance of encountering dry air outside or inside. Cold winter air tends to be denser with oxygen and carry less moisture, and heated air inside your home comes out of the heating system dry. Your body is equipped to deal with the effects of dry air by using tissue that humidifies air as you breathe it, but when your body can’t keep up with dryness levels, you may encounter some winter health issues.
Respiratory Problems. Because your body prefers moist air to maintain the elasticity of the muscles in your mouth and throat, the effects of dry air on your respiratory system can be noticeable. Air with low humidity can dry mucous membranes in the respiratory tract. When they become inflamed, you might start to feel your throat getting sore and your nasal passages becoming congested.
When the dry air pulls the moisture out of your sinuses, your entire respiratory tract may become irritated, giving you classic winter health issues. You might feel pain throughout your ear, nose, and throat connections that could lead to a cough and headache.
Vulnerability to Sickness. Inflammation of the nasal passages, throat, and sinuses increases your vulnerability to infection. The mucous in your respiratory tract creates a natural barrier against bacteria and viruses, but that barrier dries up in air with low humidity. Viruses can penetrate mucous membranes and live for a long time in dry areas, making cold weather illness a familiar experience.
Bacterial infection is also a winter health risk in dry air. Bacteria are constantly attempting to breach your body’s defenses, but air with low humidity knocks most of those defenses down and can even open skin and internal tissue like a door that stays open for all kinds of bacteria.
Skin Irritation. When dry air bombards your skin, your skin cells die faster, and your body has to shed them so you can grow new skin. It can’t just push the dead skin off of your body, though – you have to help. To motivate you, your body causes the areas of dead skin to itch, and when you scratch, you push off those dead skin layers so there’s room for growth.
Your skin also becomes less elastic when it doesn’t have moisture to create bonds, so it tends to crack and bleed if it remains dry. Once the skin breaks, it’s difficult to restore it to health. Prevention against the effects of dry air is the best way to deal with cracked skin, but if it’s too late and your skin is already broken, treat it with a combination of antibiotic cream and, once the broken skin is sealed, lotion.
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| “Flu Season” regularly peaks during the winter months, as this study from 1982-2016 shows. Source: cdc.gov |
Dry Eyes. Low humidity increases the rate of evaporation of tears, the main lubricant of your eyes. Dry eyes are a familiar winter health issue that can cause discomfort and itching, which can then cause severe irritation, inflammation, and pain. It’s essential to maintain a balance of moisture in the eyes to avoid irritation and infection.
Chapped Lips. Lips do a lot of work. They help you talk, eat, and even move around as you think. To move so smoothly and frequently, they must be able to expand and contract. They require moisture to bend and stretch, and when they are deprived of that moisture in dry air, they break just like the rest of the skin.
Broken, cracked, and bleeding lips are common effects of dry air known as chapped lips, and they’re a shockingly common health annoyance in the winter. Fortunately, lip balm tins and sticks have advanced medicine and moisturization ingredients that can heal chapped lips extremely quickly.
Defend Against Dry Air. Winter air is so harsh that many people add moisture to it to prevent cold weather illness and stay comfortable. You can try the following to mitigate the effects of dry air through humidification:
- Take a hot shower and allow the steam to build up.
- Keep a hot beverage near your face and breathe in the steam.
- Place bowls or pots of water throughout your home.
- Turn on a humidifier or medicinal vaporizer.
Take care not to over-humidify, since excess moisture in your home can cause a completely different set of problems. Add moisture to the level of comfort, then let nature do the rest.
