We all love our air in the summer, don’t we? Some of us who did not have air in the early days now wonder, how did we make it then without air? But are you in a bad relationship with your air conditioner?

Here are a couple of points you should be aware of when using air conditioning in your home or office.

A. If you are in a bad relationship with your air conditioner, your air conditioner can be adding to bad health issues and you do not even realize it. We give you several signs and ways that your air or rather your air conditioner may be causing your health issues.

B. If you are in a bad relationship with your air conditioner, there are ways to stop your air conditioner from being bad for you. Here we offer a list of ways to combat the issues caused by air conditioning.

A.

Signs of a bad air conditioner relationship

Ways your air can be bad for you:

1. dirty filters

2. improper circulation

3. too much dehumidifying

4. drastic temp change

1. Dirty Filters – mold, mildew, bacteria, and yes, viruses floating around your house.

Just normal, logical thinking will tell you this is bad for your health. Any of these things getting into your throat, and lungs can cause a respiratory infection. Or if you are already sickly they can make things worse or cause secondary illnesses.

After a “mold” warning a few years ago, there are not many people who do not know, some kinds of mold can kill you.

Any and all of these things can cause allergies to act up. We already live in the south with heat, skeeters, pollen, 98% humidity, ragweed, and chicken dust. Do you really want to add allergens while you are inside the house to?

2. Improper circulation – dust, dog hair, and cat hair being blown around in the air.

Think about it, what is in your dust? What is your dust made of and do you want it circulating in the air that you are breathing?

We have many pets inside and out and they are always leaving pet glitter around.

We do not know about you but sometimes we have sparkly air. That Bio-Glitter the kids used for yesterday’s craft projects can still be seen floating around in the air.

3. Dehumidifier- dry skin, itchy eyes, tickly throat, runny nose.

Your runny nose is your body trying to compensate for the dry air you are breathing by making more moisture. As nasty as it sounds, your mucus membranes are there for your protection. The mucus membranes in your body, stay moist to trap germs, allergens, and other potentially dangerous stuff. When you have a runny nose, you blow your nose, and out it goes, and along with the snot, all the germs and stuff that was trapped in it. This keeps you healthy and “stuff” free.

Yes, dry skin, dry itchy eyes, and dry, tickly throat can all be caused by too little moisture in the air. The dry air just sucks the moisture out of the air and leaves you slightly dehydrated. Ever notice being thirsty along with that dry throat, flaky skin, and runny nose?

4. Drastic Temp Change – Body Shock

Drastic temp change is bad for you. When you are outside in the heat your body works to help cool you down. You will sweat but the pores in your skin will open to allow heat out, kind of like tiny vents in your skin. This is good and natural.

But when you go from the outside heat, sweating and open pores to the inside cold things can go wrong. If there is a lot of difference in temp between your nice cool house and the outside air, it can shock your body.

Now, the sweat is too much and your skin gets cold. The open pores let out too much heat and your whole body temp can drop. Now normally this is registered with the usual, “I am sooo hot, now inside, I got a quick chill”. For most people, this is not a problem. Our bodies are very good at adapting to change, it is made that way.

But if you are already sickly or have other health issues, this body shock can cause a drop in your immune system.

Do we say, throw out the air conditioner and go fully natural? No, of course not. We live in the South, we want our air conditioners, we love them. Air conditioners, when working right, can make your life a cool, non-sticky, non-buggy, happier place.

But if you do not take care of your air conditioner properly, it can add to issues you already have or make new ones. Use your air but take some preventative measures to be sure you and your air conditioner stay healthy and working right.

B. If you are in a bad relationship with your air conditioner, there are ways to get out.

Ways to stop your air conditioner from being bad for you.

1. Keep a healthy air conditioner. Clean filters or change them often. Be sure those germs and “stuff” stay trapped in the filter and then out of the house.

2. Keep the machine itself clean to avoid any nasty build-up in it.

The best way to keep yourself healthy is to keep your air conditioner healthy to start with. Proper upkeep on the machine itself and proper temp setting can keep most of these issues from even happening.

3. Use a humidifier inside if you run the ac all the time. This seems to be counterproductive but you need a certain amount of moisture in the air to keep your body in working order.

4. Have your air conditioner at a reasonable temp inside. It is tempting to set your air at 70 but this is not healthy. Keep your air set at 80 or so. 80 is a lot closer to the outside air and will not cause the issues with your body that the drastic change in temp can.

5. Try to limit how much time you spend in the air conditioning. This may be hard if you work in an office or air-conditioned building but limiting your exposure is very helpful. If you are always in the air, your body will eventually get used to that temp and you will “feel” the heat more when you go out.

The same goes for keeping the house too hot in the winter. Keep it cooler and then going outside will not be such a shock to you.

6. There are physical things you can do to help also.

For dry skin, moisturize. There are all kinds of safe, natural skin products you can get these days to soothe dry skin.

And even itchy eyes and dry throat can be relieved with natural products.

If you find you are a bit chilled, put on a sleeve of some kind. We love flannel in our family. But any long sleeve shirt, light jacket, or shoulder wrap will do. Just as long as you keep your body at the proper temp and avoid a chill, you will be able to avoid some of these issues.

Avoiding these conditions is best, but if you find them starting, get right on it and take care of it fast. Do not wait until you are in a pickle before you start to look for a solution.

This is not to scare you out of using your air conditioning talk. No, this is a let’s keep you and your air conditioner in proper shape and in good healthy. Have a good relationship and avoid being stuck in a bad relationship with your air conditioner. With so many other things on your mind, your air conditioner may not rank high on your worry list. But keep in mind the things that can go wrong with both your air conditioner’s health and your own.

Use some common sense and use these tips to help you keep yourself and your family healthy all summer.

No one wants to worry about If they are in a bad relationship with your air conditioner.  A bit of preventative maintenance will go a long way to keeping your relationships healthy and in top shape.

If you find that you are in a bad relationship with your air conditioner, do not stay there. Make the changes today needed to have a good, healthy relationship with your air conditioner. Otherwise, you could have a dirty, sick air conditioner that does not work right. And you may end up sick, hot, and miserable.

We hope you have enjoyed this talk, Are You In a Bad Relationship with Your Air Conditioner? And that you have picked up some things to think about and hopefully some tips to use.

Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.