Do Humidifiers Help with Sleep Apnea and Snoring?

Unbelievable but true – excessively HIGH and LOW humidity levels in your room play an important role in controlling your sleeping patterns.

Particularly, high humidity in your bedroom can be a significant cause of poor sleep quality. As excess moisture present in the air makes it difficult for your body to evaporate the moisture, it leaves you feeling sweaty, hot, and uncomfortable all night. Also, if you suffer from mold allergies, high humidity levels can cause significant problems while sleeping by encouraging mold growth.

Dryness in the air or lower humidity levels inside can also make you feel uncomfortable while sleeping as it dries out your nasal passages and skin. Especially during freezing winter nights, you are more susceptible to getting a cold, flu, or other allergies if the air inside is too dry making it harder for you to fall asleep.

If conditions like excess humidity or dryness in the air are left uncontrolled for a long, it can lead to sleeping disorders like sleep apnea, snoring, and many others.

Does a Humidifier Help with Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a serious disorder in which a person’s breathing is interrupted while sleeping. In this condition, the entire body parts (including the brain) stop receiving enough oxygen supply which causes one or more breathing pauses while sleeping.

In a chronic condition, these stops and starts can happen more than 20- 30 times in an hour which disrupts the sleep pattern greatly. These conditions may even lead to death while sleeping.

Snoring, on the other hand, is not as severe as sleep apnea as it’s only the harsh croaky sound (produced from the nose or mouth) during sleep. This occurs due to partially obstructed breathing during sleep. The narrower the airways become while sleeping, the greater the vibrations will be and the louder the sound of snoring.

Control the changing seasons; outdoor temperature and humidity are beyond your reach. All you can do is install a good humidifier in your home that can manage optimum humidity levels in all seasons.

Studies showed that installing a good quality room humidifier proved to be highly beneficial for people suffering from disorders like sleep apnea and snoring.

As humidifier monitors and manages to keep your bedroom’s humidity level at about 30- 50%, it makes your skin and airways relaxed to enjoy the most comfortable night’s sleep without any disturbance.

Best Humidifier for Sleep Apnea and Snoring

Choosing the best humidifier for sleeping is essential to creating a healthier sleep environment in your bedroom all year round.

However, when you are in the market to choose the best humidifier for snoring, you may find various varieties and styles available, making it challenging to pick the most prominent one.

A whole-house humidifier can be most helpful for you and your family members as it can make your entire home more comfortable.

Picking a portable humidifier for sleep apnea can be a better decision as it allows you to add and control the moisture levels inside your bedroom while sleeping.

Some of the smartest humidifiers today come with features like remote control and Bluetooth along with Wi-Fi, Alexa, and Echo Dot compatibility. This portable-sized humidifier enables you to control your device even when you are sleeping at night.

CPAP Machine With a Humidifier: Does It Help?

Using a CPAP machine is one of the best recommended treatments for relieving chronic sleep apnea and snoring conditions. But as the air that is flowed out by CPAP is dry air, it can dry up the nasal tract of the patient. These machines are hence risky to use for patients in some instances.

By adding a humidifier to the CPAP machine, moisture is added to the air, which flows through the nasal passage. The moisturized air that is breathed in acts as a soothing agent to release all the inflammation, which helps to breathe freely.

Due to the varied requirements of the users, there are different CPAP machines available in the market. Some of them come with pre-installed humidifiers, while others need an additional humidifier to be installed.

If your doctor has prescribed you a CPAP treatment method, it is good to opt for a CPAP machine with a humidifier as it can ease all the conditions relatively faster. Do not forget to consult your doctor and check whether it is perfect for your specific condition or not.

Considerations When Choosing The Device for Sleep Disorders

While choosing the best humidifier for snoring and sleep apnea, ensure you do not go after the models that come with bells and whistles (like a humidifier with diffusers). Although these are good for relieving a few allergies, they cannot do anything for sleeping disorders like snoring and sleep apnea.

When it’s time to choose between a humidifier or vaporizer, your decision should depend upon your budget and household.

In general, vaporizers are comparatively expensive and use more power to operate. Also, due to their heating element, these can be risky to operate near your pets and kids. But the good thing is they produce a warm mist of moisturized air soothing your airways, irritated sore throat, and mouth.

No matter which humidifier type you choose for sleeping problems, starting your device an hour before you go to bed is good. This will help improve your bedroom’s sleeping environment so that you can breathe all night comfortably.

You can set up your unit close to your bedside on a nightstand or shelf to get the maximum benefits.

Overall, sleep apnea and snoring are caused due to partial or complete nasal obstruction. It can affect a person at any age, and if left untreated, it may result in a growing number of health problems, including high blood pressure, stroke, heart failure, and diabetes.

Fortunately, providing a better sleeping environment can easily tackle the problem. Humidifier plays an important role in managing the conditions. So why not install one in your room to sleep better and let your partner sleep peacefully?