Air purifiers are designed to clean and improve the air quality inside the room, and they are believed to help people with allergies and respiratory illnesses. However, some people still have allergic reactions even if they constantly have their air purifiers on. So, can air purifiers make allergies worse, and should you continue using them?
Usually, air purifiers that have HEPA filters included in their structure are known to be safe and recommended for people with allergies. However, some types of ozone-emitting air purifiers can be harmful, and cause the appearance of symptoms, such as shortness of breath, cough, and irritation.
If you are suffering from some kind of respiratory allergies, you should be extremely careful when choosing an air purifier for your home. There are different kinds of air purifiers, and some of them might negatively affect your allergies, and even worsen them. Therefore, in this article, I have explained everything you need to know about air purifiers and their relation to allergies, so you can pick the one that will be safe for you.
Can An Air Purifier Make Breathing Worse?
Usually, air purifiers are recommended for people who have respiratory issues and different allergies because they clean the air by removing the pollutants that might cause allergic reactions. Therefore, many people tend to use them on a daily basis, so their symptoms would not appear. Breathing high-quality air is of crucial importance, especially around your home, where you spend most of your time.
Namely, air purifiers are convenient for many reasons, i.e. they come with a lot of benefits, and they can really improve living conditions. Firstly, they are beneficial because they remove pollutants from the air. That means that you have the ability to breathe cleaner and fresher air inside your home or workplace.
Secondly, air purifiers are amazing because they remove unpleasant odors from the room. This is a great feature in rooms where you cook or smoke since they have the ability to neutralize these smells. People try to remove odors with air fresheners or sprays, but that is just mixing nice smells and odors, while air purifiers can absolutely remove smells and neutralize the whole area.
In addition, if you use an air purifier in a room where you sleep, you will notice that the quality of your sleep will significantly improve. Clean and fresh air is extremely important for sleeping circumstances, so using an air purifier in your bedroom might really make a difference. Good night’s sleep will improve your productivity throughout the day, meaning that an air purifier is not only about providing cleaner air inside the house.
Lastly, air purifiers are known to improve the living conditions for people who suffer from different kinds of allergies or respiratory illnesses. Many people nowadays are allergic to dust and similar harmful particles, and they usually have a difficult time breathing. This can be extremely unpleasant when it happens at home, a place where you need to rest and relax.
That is why these people opt for an air purifier since it is considered that it has the ability to remove these pollutants and ease up breathing. However, some people still experience heavy breathing even when the air purifier is constantly turned on and working. This leads to the question of whether air purifiers are really effective, or they can worsen the breathing conditions for people with allergies or respiratory illnesses.
The thing is that there are many types of air purifiers and they work in different ways. In other words, different air purifiers have distinguished ways of filtration, meaning they do not function in the same way. Therefore, if you experience some difficulty in breathing even when using an air purifier, you should look into the features of that particular air purifier.
Since air purifiers have different filtration systems, they have different effects on the environment and the people in that environment. That is why it is possible that your air purifier is obstructing your breathing conditions, i.e. it makes your breathing difficult. If you experience these kinds of situations, you should look into the features of your air purifier, and maybe consider switching the type of this device.
Can Air Purifier Worsen Your Allergies?
As I explained above, when you experience breathing issues or you have allergic reactions even when using an air purifier, there is probably something to do with the type of your device. To be more precise, you should look into the filtration system of your air purifier. Many air purifiers use filters that might worsen your allergies and cause many allergic reactions than you usually experience.
For instance, air purifiers that use a HEPA filter for cleaning the air and trapping contaminants from the indoor air are considered the safest options. HEPA filtration is actually mechanical filtration that does not release any harmful substances in the atmosphere along with clean air. That is why it is recommended that you always go for an air purifier with HEPA filters built inside the machine.
Air purifiers that are considered harmful are those that have ozone generators, i.e. ionizer air purifiers. These air purifiers are quite effective in destroying bacteria and germs since the ozone that is released is perfect for this purpose. However, these ozone substances are harmful to people, and that is the main reason why some people feel like their allergies are getting worse instead of getting better, which is the main point of using an air purifier in the first place.
In other words, ionizer air purifiers are quite effective in removing germs and bacteria, and they will actually remove dust and other harmful particles even from places that are not reachable easily. However, the ionizing process makes the allergen particles heavier after the filtration. Also, these types of air purifiers tend to release harmful substances into the air after the process of filtration is done.
Some air purifiers are also characterized by ozone emissions, which are quite dangerous for people’s health, especially those who have already developed allergies. Ozone is harmful to the respiratory system, and that is the reason why many allergic reactions become worse, even when using an air purifier.
Therefore, these purifiers that emit ozone can be quite unpleasant since they can cause the development of several symptoms, such as shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, and irritations of the eyes and throat. These kinds of symptoms usually worsen your allergies, and they can damage your respiratory system. That is why it is advised that you go for safer options of air purifiers, such as those which include HEPA filters.
Are There Any Side Effects Of Air Purifiers?
While air purifiers are recommended for handling allergies better, some of them can have a counter effect. This is due to the fact that there are different types of air purifiers that use different kinds of filtration systems, and these systems are not always convenient for allergies. Namely, many air purifiers can make allergies worse, so people feel even more uncomfortable than before.
For instance, ionic air purifiers can damage your respiratory system, and cause some symptoms such as sneezing, irritation, dry throat, and cough. If you are allergic to dust particles, or you have asthma, you should be really careful with the selection of your air purifier. Namely, make sure that you avoid using an ionic air purifier or air purifier that emits ozone particles.
However, sometimes, you might notice that your allergy symptoms are getting worse, even though you have opted for an air purifier with a HEPA filter. Although HEPA filters are recommended and believed as the safest options, you should know that they need to be frequently checked and cleaned. You might experience some side effects of your air purifier due to the fact that the filters are dirty, and not maintained properly.
People usually oversee this fact, but air purifiers need to be checked regularly, and HEPA filters need to be replaced often. Only then you can be sure that your air purifier is working properly, and you will not experience any side effects from it.
In addition, you also need to consider the size of your air purifier in relation to the size of your room. Sizes also play a significant role in this case, so you need to be careful when opting for an air purifier. In other words, you need to make sure that your air purifier is suitable for the size of your room.
If the air purifier is too big for the room in which you use it, then it might work really fast and dry out the air. This might lead to dry throat or irritated skin, and this can be quite unpleasant. You might get the feeling that the air purifier is actually purposely drying the air, but that will happen due to the fact that it does not have enough room to release the cleaned air.
Can Air Purifiers Be Harmful?
Since air purifiers are devices that clean indoor air, it is hard to believe that they can be harmful. Many people use them, and even doctors recommend them, especially to people who have issues with their respiratory systems or have allergic reactions.
Air purifiers are designed to make your living conditions better, i.e. to make the air fresher and cleaner. They are commonly used to relieve allergic symptoms, especially for people who are suffering from asthma. This is why it is rarely believed that they can be harmful.
However, you need to take into consideration that there are different types of air purifiers, i.e. they work using different systems for cleaning the air. For instance, there are air purifiers that use filters to purify the air, while others use electricity. In addition, there are air purifiers that use ozone to clean the harmful particles, and you are probably familiar that ozone can be quite dangerous for your health.
Ozone is known to be greatly efficient and effective when it comes to destroying germs and bacteria. On the other hand, when ozone is released into the air, it can be harmful to people’s health. In other words, air purifiers with ozone generators generate and release large amounts of ozone when they pull out the clean air inside a room.
When you are constantly exposed to large amounts of ozone, you might develop symptoms, such as headaches, sore throat, asthma attacks, coughing, difficulty breathing, and so on. Some people do not experience severe symptoms, but others might feel serious discomfort that can later lead to complications.
This means that not all air purifiers are safe enough to use inside your home, or to be more precise, ozone-generated air purifiers are not recommended for use. In fact, in some places these kinds of air purifiers are banned, so you will not be able to find them in stores. This is due to the fact that experts have agreed that inhaling large amounts of ozone can be extremely dangerous, so people should avoid it at all costs.
However, studies have shown that even small amounts of ozone can be harmful, so you should not experiment and test your health. That is why it is wiser to stay away from ozone-generated air purifiers, especially in your home.
It is better that you stick to air purifiers that clean the air with filters. As I mentioned before, one of the safest types of filters is the HEPA filter, so you should look for this feature when buying an air purifier. However, make sure that you get the real HEPA filter, not a HEPA-like filter since it is not the same thing.
In conclusion, it is safe to say that not all air purifiers are suitable for use, meaning that some of them can worsen your allergies. Therefore, make sure that you stay away from ionic and ozone air purifiers, and stick to the recommended types, such as those with HEPA filtrations.
Sources:
https://amerisleep.com/blog/benefits-of-an-air-purifier/
https://housefresh.com/allergy-air-purifier/
https://www.healthline.com/health/air-purifier-for-allergies#best-type-for-allergies