The duration and quality of daily sleep are essential to your living a healthy and disease-free life.
And to achieve that, you must reduce your exposure to air contamination while you sleep.
Besides, we spend much of our lives in the bedroom, so you must strive to achieve optimal indoor air quality.
Moreover, since our immune system is weakest while we sleep, it increases our susceptibility to airborne pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and other harmful elements.
Hence, it reinforces why you must guard your indoor air while sleeping against invasion by pollution. This is where an air purifier comes in.
In this article, you’ll learn the merits that an air purifier provides while sleeping and how it does it.
Is it good to sleep with an air purifier on?
Yes. Air purifiers create a cozy and conducive atmosphere that makes sleeping easy.
In fact, if you had just one air purifier, the best place to put it would be the bedroom.
This is because you spend a massive part of your day in the bedroom for resting and sleeping, and sometimes, for working.
So keeping your bedroom’s air clean and breathable is the best thing to do.
Moreover, the Environmental Protection Agency says that 68% of human diseases result from air contamination.
While we sleep, our immune system works very slowly, making it easy for viruses and bacteria to attack us and cause health problems.
An air purifier eliminates these airborne pollutants and creates an ideal sleeping environment.
So if you live in a very polluted environment or suffer from severe allergies or asthma…
You might want to consider leaving your air purifier on all-day
Benefits of sleeping with an air purifier
Air purifiers do more than purify the air; they promote sound sleep. In addition, using an air purifier during bedtime helps eliminate impurities and smells or odors that could disrupt your sleep. Air purifiers also rid the air of VOCs.
By so doing, you can quickly and easily get a deeper and more peaceful sleep.
Similarly, air purifier treats the symptoms of sleep apnea. Since there appears to be a direct correlation between indoor air pollution and sleep apnea, lowering air pollution levels helps improve the condition.
Also, an air purifier at night helps to prevent congestion and reduce snoring. In addition, an air purifier is more necessary when sleeping at night to remove specific allergens and pollutants that irritate the lungs.
This is particularly crucial if you’re an allergy sufferer or someone with asthma, COPD, or other respiratory conditions. Air purifiers reduce the frequency of flare-ups and the rate at which you use your rescue inhaler.
For this reason, the Asthma Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) recommends using air purifiers at bedtime to improve the breathing of asthmatics while sleeping.
Lastly, sleeping with an air purifier also provides skin benefits. It removes oxidative pollutants capable of causing skin inflammation.
Sleeping next to air purifier
Sleeping next to an air purifier is a bad idea. While sleeping with an air purifier is advised, you should know that it could result in health issues.
Reports show that people sleeping beside an air purifier experience congestion, headache, sinus, and allergy symptoms.
This is because an air purifier attracts and captures contaminants when placed in the direction of air, either from windows, fans, or air conditioners.
And if the air purifier is next to the bed, it will direct the contaminated air to you. It’s even worse when the polluted air blows directly on your face.
It means you’d be inhaling foul-smelling, pollen, dander, hair, virus, and bacteria-infested air into your lungs, which is risky to your health and even poses more danger if you have asthma, allergy, or any underlying health condition.
You can avoid the risk by simply placing the air purifier at a safe distance when you sleep.
How close should you sleep to an air purifier?
It’s advised to place your air purifier about 6 to 10 feet away from your sleeping space and 2 to 3 feet from the ground. In addition, this placement facilitates air intake by the unit around the room vertically and horizontally.
But you have to ensure that there aren’t any obstructing items, furniture, or wall nearby that can impede the free flow of air into the machine.
As a result, the air purifier can give optimal performance with extensive coverage. Furthermore, it would be best to consider the air intake direction of the air purifier relative to the source of impure air.
For example, suppose you want the air around your bed filtered. In that case, you should properly position the unit to direct its air intake toward your bed or the contaminated area.
That being said, the placement of your air purifier must be at a safe distance, as mentioned earlier.
Do air purifiers work well on sleep mode?
Yes, they do. Many of the best air purifiers on the market feature Sleep Mode settings.
When in sleep mode, the air purifier works effectively while maintaining a conducive and quiet environment for uninterrupted sleep.
However, you must ensure your air purifier is well-sized for the bedroom. The Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) it offers must be adequate enough to cover the entire room.
You should activate sleep mode to get the best from an air purifier while sleeping.
Verdict
In conclusion, a lack of quality sleep can profoundly affect your mental and physical well-being and your family. Air pollution in the bedroom has been linked to sleeping problems. The reason is that contaminated outdoor air is constantly entering your home, even while you sleep. And this can compromise your air quality and cause headaches, sinuses, allergies, and flu-like symptoms. All of which can result in inadequate sleep. But the good news is that an air purifier can eliminate such airborne contaminants and create excellent sleeping conditions. So, yes, you should sleep with an air purifier on.