Everyone is familiar with humidifiers. Especially in winter and spring, when indoors are relatively dry, many people keep one or even several humidifiers on hand. Not only do you use a humidifier when it is dry, consumers who pursue a refined life like to add some aromatherapy essential oils and lemon slices. Some people even add vinegar or isatis root to the humidifier. We need to remind everyone that recently, some experts said that adding essential oils, vinegar, and even isatis root to a humidifier is unreliable and may instead cause respiratory diseases.
In autumn and winter, under the double attack of dry climate and indoor heating, humidifiers have become a "life-saving" magic weapon for many people. Some older people even add isatis roots and vinegar to their humidifiers. They believe that through the atomization of a humidifier, the active ingredients of isatis root and vinegar can be released into the air. Aunt Chen, a citizen of Sanming, said: "The weather is very dry in autumn, and my child just bought a humidifier. Anyway, it is humidification. Add some vinegar, etc., and the sterilization effect will be better."
Search on the e-commerce platform "Humidifier" found that there are all kinds of humidifiers on sale, and the highest-selling anion humidifier has monthly sales of more than 100,000 units. Many merchants claim in their product details that essential oils, fruits, etc. can be put into the water to freshen the air. Many buyers in the product evaluation messages also said that after adding lemon, rose petals, orange peels, jasmine and other substances to the humidifier, the indoor air became better.
Similarly, a visit to the Sanming Electrical Appliance Market in Fujian found that humidifiers were also placed in a conspicuous position. However, a salesperson from a well-known small household appliance brand told reporters that the humidifier has no other function except increasing air humidity. She suggested that consumers should not add any other substances to the humidifier, not even tap water. They must add purified water. "Impurities in tap water will reduce the service life of the machine and even damage the machine."
Adding other substances to the humidifier will not only reduce the service life of the machine, but more seriously, it may cause physical discomfort. Previously, media reported that a woman in Shandong added vinegar to a humidifier, causing her whole family to suffer from fevers and coughs to varying degrees. A woman in Hefei City, Anhui Province, was diagnosed with acute pneumonia after adding isatis root to a humidifier. There is also news that someone in South Korea caused pneumonia and subsequently died due to the use of humidifier disinfectant. The reason is that an ingredient in it can cause damage to the lungs after being atomized.
In this regard, Huang Xin, a doctor at Shaxian Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in Sanming City, Fujian Province, said that too dry air can cause symptoms such as drying and bleeding of nasal mucosa. Humidifiers can increase the humidity of the air and help protect the human airway. However, adding foreign matter to the humidifier in the hope of achieving a certain effect is not worthy of praise. Respiratory problems occurred during the use of humidifiers, which were largely related to allergies. He said: "To be truly used for treatment, substances that can act on the lungs must have a certain degree of water solubility, fat solubility, and a certain number of particles, and can combine with alveolar epithelial cells so that they can be absorbed by capillaries. Essential oils, Isatis root, vinegar, etc., if any substances can be released into the air through the humidifier, it will also be a foreign body to the lungs, which will aggravate the symptoms of asthma, emphysema, and even cause hypersensitivity pneumonitis. ”
So, how to spend the dry winter and spring seasons healthily and comfortably? Huang Xin suggested that ventilation should be ensured for half an hour to one hour every morning. When using a humidifier, the amount of atomization should be adjusted according to the dryness of the indoor air, and the humidifier should be cleaned and disinfected regularly.