Cough has always been a problem to its sufferer, especially during this period of the year where respiratory issues are very rampant. There is nothing exciting about cough especially when it comes at night; it can be quite upsetting and sleep depriving. In this article, we’ve given comprehensive answers to frequently asked questions about using a humidifier for cough, and then we finally reviewed the best humidifier for coughs.
Coughing affects both the adult and babies. It can lead to some other severe conditions like asthma, allergy, dizziness, neoplasm, etc. The reason why it should be taken seriously with medical consultation.
Nevertheless, you must know that cough is not a disease itself but rather a means by which the body reacts to the irritation of the foreign bodies on the tracheobronchial tracts.
In most cases, cold always leads to cough when the airways are sensitive. Cold air with or without dust will trigger the cough. This is as a result of body response to clear up the virus causing flu or cold.
Also Read: Best humidifier for nosebleeds
what does a humidifier do for a coughs
Humidifiers are very active when it comes to relieving people of so many ailments and discomfort. With the flu season approaching, a humidifier can be your best bet of staying healthy. This invaluable unit is very productive when it comes to relieving coughs. Explained below are what humidifier will do for a cough
- Stopping the spread of flu germs
A recent study has successfully shown the relationship between flu and humidity. It was ascertained that germs are active and would survive in dry air compared to a humid environment. Since this microorganism can be transmitted easily from one person to the other, it would be advisable to get a humidifier and stay on top of the humidity
- Help breathe gently and comfortably and Humidify painful dry throat
In most cases, cough and its complication often arise from the tightness and dryness of the respiratory tract. Warm mist humidifiers are known for dispersing soothing moderate warm mist to release every tightness and moisturize the passage of air.
- Helps you sleep better
People who have been tormented by cough during the night can testify to the non-sleep battle. Cool mist humidifier often goes a long way to help you sleep better without even snoring.
Also Read: Best Humifier for bronchitis
Top 5 Best Humidifiers for Coughs
1) Levoit warm or cool mist ultrasonic humidifier
Special Features: Digital Humidity display, Whisper quiet, 6L water tank, aromatherapy, and touch/remote control
This is a highly recommended humidifier for a cough that comes with PTC heating system which can heat the water to a warm temperature for a regular warm mist setting. This helps in purifying water and dispersing the purest mist. Without the warm mist settings, the cool mist can increase the humidity of a room by 25%.
The level unit comes with a digital display screen that is touchable or controlled with a remote. This feature makes it very easy to use. It is also very easy to clean and has a big water tank of 1.5 gallons or 6 liters that can continually disperse 500ml of water per hr. The lowest mist level settings have a mist duration of 36 hours.
Also admirable about this unit is the whisper quiet feature that allows it to be compatible for baby use. The operation of this unit can be set to an auto mode to adjust itself to the humidity level of the room automatically. This makes it safe to avoid a damp place. Besides, it allows for the addition of essential oil via the aroma box.
Nevertheless, the product material is highly durable because it is made up of ABS plastic that is hard to break. Cleaning and refilling of this product are effortless as well. One thing that makes it distinct from the other humidifier is the special leak-proof that prevents leaking.
2) Elechomes UC5501 Ultrasonic Warm and cool humidifiers
Special Features: Dual mist, Auto humidity sensing, 750sqft coverage, 6L tank, Ultra quiet, and sleep mode
[image code=”B07H2529KP”]The elechomes has a shape that resembles the levoit if not for the color and some certain distinguishing features; it would be hard to differentiate the two. But elechomes is different in the sense that it has a safety shutoff, more expensive, and the optional filtration of water to prevent limescale buildup over time
This product is worth the price in all functionality. It has a 360-degree dual nozzle for a double release of warm and cold mist at a time. Unlike the level, elechomes has a 40 hrs of mist timing of continuous use on the lowest settings at a 550ml/hr max humidity frequency.
It is very easy to use this unit and refill it. One of the intriguing features about it is the auto mode settings that allows you to leave the humidifier working on its own. The unit also comes with a smart humidity sensor that automatically detects the humidity of a room and then displays it for you to see the humidity level of the room and then set your desired humidification rate. The ease of use is also characterized by the touch screen and the remote compatibility.
Apart from been automatically oriented, it is ultraquiet compared to any of the other humidifier. It operates at the sound level of 34dB. This is the basis of its new improved sleep mode which makes sure it doesn’t affect your sleep with sound and also auto shut off itself when the set humidification is reached.
One other reason why it’s worth the money is the ability to work as an essential oil diffuser. It has space for you to add essential oil for aromatherapy.
3) Everlasting comfort Ultrasonic cool mist humidifier
Special Features: Auto shut off, no filter needed, essential oil compatible, and essential oil tray
[image code=”B077Z2QCS5″]This is also one of the best humidifier outside there that would work perfectly in clearing cough. The name everlasting is as a result of its long term nonstop misting time of 50 hrs. It is also endowed with a 6L tank with releases mist through the nozzle at a 270ml/hr. Frequency. This humidifier can cover a space of 400sqft effectively and increase the humidity of a whole room.
The unique feature about this everlasting product is the filter-less humidification. This is very cost saving and hassle-free such that you won’t have to always look for a way to replace the old filter. In most cases, regular humidifiers cannot be used with just any water, but this unit can even boast of using Tap water to mist a room. It is only advisable that you use a distilled water to prevent white mineral deposit.
It’s one of the most reliable humidifiers when it comes to safety. It comes with a safety shut off that enable it to turn off itself whenever it detects that water is finish in the tank. It also comes with the essential oil tray that allows you to use it with your essential oil.
4) Levoit cool mist Ultrasonic humidifier
Special Features: whisper quiet, aromatherapy, adjustable mist settings, easy to refill, Moderate tank capacity
[image code=”B07C96NK8P”]Just like the above awesome humidifier for cough, this levoit is very excellent and worth the price as well. It comes as a stylish design with a one button push starts and use. This makes it one of the easiest to use and easy to clean humidifier for cough.
This unit has a triple mist dispersal level of settings. It gives out mist output of about 250ml/hr making it an average production for a full room. The operation of this device is very quiet due to the ultrasonic feature. It gives off mist for about 36 hours on a low mist setting without stopping.
Also, it comes with an aroma box just like every other product on this list. A fan inside the unit blows the aroma into the mist to give a pure and scented aroma that is soothing to the throat. It is, however, important to avoid adding oil directly into the water to prevent the leakage of water later.
5) Vicks Mini filter cool mist ultrasonic humidifier
Special Features: Filterless, 20hrs misting time, quiet, 0.5-gallon tank and Recommended by American Academy of Pediatrics.
This baby-friendly humidifier for cough is one of the most common humidifiers that are in the market. This portable humidifier is considered one of the best humidifier for children cough in the nursery because it comes with an auto shut off and its very quiet. This enables the device to switch off itself when the water tank is empty instead of overworking.
The humidifier can boast of an elongated misting duration of 20 hrs with a medium sized tank of a 4L water tank. The most distinctive feature about this unit is that you don’t need to replace the filter just like every other humidifier. This saves cost and stress. It is however easy to clean and refill because of its sturdy handle and a wide opening. In most cases, you wouldn’t need to refill it more than once in a day.
The humidifier has been noted for its ability to make you sleep easy at night due to its ability to relieve cough and nasal congestion. I got my hand on this unit for testing purposes from influencer, and all I can say is awesome because it serves the function that most big humidifier wouldn’t give. I would recommend you use in a 10 X10 room because it wasn’t active when I tested it in an 18 X 26.
What type of cough do I have
You might have been asking yourself ‘what type of cough do I have.’ it’s good to know the specific cough type of cough you are battling with, to understand how to treat it.
In a broad classification, your type of cough can either be a dry, wet, paroxysmal, or croup cough. To be more specific about timing of cough and types, we have
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Wet Coughing at Night
As the name implies, it is always a wet cough which means that it has to do so much with the production of watery mucus. The wet cough is a response of the body to push out excess mucus from the respiratory tract. It is either caused by cold or flu.
A wet cough can either be an acute wet cough or a chronic wet cough. The chronic has a longer duration of stay than the severe. People suffering from this cough to a minimal level can make some sound when coughing especially while the mouth is open while coughing
Henceforth, you will know that you have a wet cough when mucus or phlegm tends to flow into your mouth whenever you are coughing. Although this kind of cough also show up during the day after some trigger but this cough is very common during the Night and can be involuntary and uncontrollable
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Dry cough at end of cold / Dry cough at night time
Unlike the wet cough, Dry cough doesn’t have any mucus to eject out of the respiratory system. In essence, dry cough is often as a result of triggering cough reflex at the end of the throat. Sometimes, it may also be due to inflammation of the wall of the respiratory tract (bronchi, throat and larnx).
In most cases, it often comes with a mild to severe pain because of the dryness and its mostly caused by the upper respiratory infections. However, a dry cough can extend for a long week with a sound. Other possible causes of dry cough are sore throat, laryngitis, allergies, asthma, and several others.
You would know that you have a dry cough when the cough is Hacking with a background sound and it’s not bringing forth any mucus into your mouth. It also comes up at night time or after a trigger by cold.
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Paroxysmal Cough
This type of cough is a more complicated and a life-threatening cough. It is also known as whooping cough or pertussis. It often comes along with vomiting and struggling to breathe.
People struggling with this often make a whooping sound as a result of forceful inhalation to regain lost oxygen from the lungs during the coughing process.
This type of cough often leads to serious complication in babies and may lead to death if not adequately treated. The best way to avoid this cough in babies is to get them vaccinated. Paroxysmal cough can be identified by whooping sound and struggling to breathe.
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Croup cough in kids and adults
This is a viral infection cough that is common in children of 1-5yrs of age. It is caused as a result of swollen airways making it further narrower for the passage of air. This cough is characterized by a barky cough with a raspy voice because of the swelling around the voice box
During inhalation, children suffering from croup cough often make sounds because of the difficulties with breathing, but it doesn’t involve vomiting.
Also Read: Best humidifier for croup cough
How does a humidifier help a cough and a bronchitis
Inhaled medicine has always been a very effective way of treating throat infections like cough and bronchitis. Different humidifiers have different ways of working, but all of them contribute immensely to the increment of the humidity level of a room.
When someone is coughing, it’s the body response to the irritation of the airways caused by dryness. Either a cool or warm mist will fill the space with enough moisture so that the person can inhale a wet air into the respiratory tract to ease the tickling behind the throat.
The center for disease control and prevention suggest that humidifier can soothe coughing by loosening the mucus, but there wasn’t clear enough evidence to support the use of either the cool mist or the warm mist.
Conclusively, dry air could be a cause of coughing and can also be a bad combo with coughing. A humidifier will go a long way to help add moisture to the air. Warm mist humidifier may help in soothing but endeavor to choose cool mist for babies because of burns.
Humidifier or Dehumidifier for cough
When it comes to humidifier vs. dehumidifier for cough, people are often confused as to which of them to go for. Humidifier adds moisture to the air whereas dehumidifier does the opposite. It is advisable to go for humidifier because dehumidifier will instead contribute more to the triggers of the cough.
When anyone has respiratory tract distress or congestion that could lead to any type of the cough, the quality of the air that is inspired and expired would go a long way to determine your comfort level and how quickly the cough will be dealt with.
The key to picking humidifier or dehumidifier for cough is to know when moisture needs to be added to the air or when humidity is needed to be removed from the air and the reason why. When your symptoms are due to cold or flu, a humidifier is the right unit to pick. Even up till this moment, dehumidifier has never been the best remedy for any type of coughing.
Also Read: Humidifier or dehumidifier for stuffy nose
Can humidifier cause cough
Humidifier help resolves cough issues but can make the cough worse if not used properly. There hasn’t been any report that humidifier can cause cough but below listed are how a humidifier can make a cough worse.
- Uncleaned Humidifier
Bacteria, Fungi or any other micro-organism can grow inside the water tank when not properly cleaned. A portable humidifier should be disassembled and cleaned thoroughly. The water should be refilled daily, and all the parts that are in contact with the water must be cleaned as well.
- Using Tap water in a humidifier
Tap water is a hard mineralized water that encourages the growth of microorganisms and dispersion of white particle dust into the air. There haven’t been much confirmation and report of the effect of white dust on health except for the lung injury reported in an infant in February 2011 after inhaling mineral dust.
Factors to consider when choosing the best humidifier for coughs
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cool or warm mist humidifier for cough
The pick between either warm or cold mist for cough depends majorly on the season of use and the type of cough. Cool mist will be the best pick in the summer why the warm mist will just do fine in the winter.
In most cases, warm mist humidifier can play the role of both because it often cools off and assumes the temperature of the room before been inhaled. It is imperative to note that the warm mist is not an option for small kids and toddlers.
- Humidification coverage
If the primary purpose of the humidification is the whole house, it will be good to go for the entire house humidifiers. But if it’s only for your personal use, the portable humidifiers will do just fine for a room
Also Read: Best humidifier for single room
- Water tank Capacity
This is important because of 2 things. If you don’t always want to refill your humidifier with water, then you should opt for the bigger tanks humidifiers. Secondly, if you want a much mist to be dispersed into the air, then don’t pick the smaller tank humidifiers.
- Misting Duration
Every humidifier has a mist time which is the length of time that the humidifier is capable of dispersing mist into the air before running out of water in the tank. Make sure you choose a humidifier with at least 10 hrs. of misting time.
- Noise level
Warm mist humidifiers and the evaporative ones have a higher tendency of making noise than the ultrasonic humidifiers. If you will be using your humidifier in the bedroom or where noise will be disturbing, it is the best that you get the cool mist ultrasonic humidifier.
- Essential oil Usage compatibility
Since essential oil usage is now a trend, it would be a good thing to also bend to it. There are some humidifiers which have the function of using essential oil while others don’t. Henceforth, if you are considering adding the therapy of essential oil diffuser, pick the product that is compatible with it, because not all of the humidifiers go well with essential oil.
- Ease of cleaning and refilling
Any product that you would be buying must be easy to clean and refill with water. This is because there is a need to continually clean humidifiers that are meant to resolve cough issue or else they will make it worse.
Final Verdict: Best humidifier for coughing at night and during the day
Levoit warm or cool mist ultrasonic humidifier come up as our best because of some reasons. One of which is the budget-friendly consideration. You don’t have to break the bank before getting this excellent unit. It, however, provide the same awesome function as the elechomes which cost a bit higher. Also, Levoit stands out because of the dual mist that can go as long as 36hrs of misting. Its automated feature is part of the considerations as the best
Elechomes warm or cool mist ultrasonic humidifier would have been the best, but the price put it behind levoit. However, it has a wider area of coverage than any of the humidifiers and longest misting duration.
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