This wet summer affects physical health as well as your mood.
I rarely go out but rain and temperature outdoors still affect me. I open windows often to let the outdoor air in.
The humidity that warmth and wetness combined create, is like breathing pea soup.
I noticed that when humidity is high it is harder to breathe and saps my energy.
I began watching the weather forcasted humidity levels daily. Recently there has been humidity at over 90% consistently for days on end without a break. Some days it hit 100%.
I began looking up (on the web, of course
) how this affects health, and was surprised to find how much it can.
If you haven't got black mould anywhere in your home you may think that there is no need to monitor indoor air humidity, but for persons with any respiratory problem, regulating indoor air humidity can improve quality of life.
Interestingly this researching introduced me to the life of dust mites.
Like us, their bodies have have high percentage of water. They don't drink - they absorb water from the humidity of the air. Reducing humidity culls (but doesn't eliminate) the dust mite population.
Airborne mould spores are always present too, even if they aren't colonising your walls. They also thrive on high humidity.
Some furniture and carpets 'outgas' chemicals used in their manufacture for quite a while, until the newness wears off. The rate of 'outgassing' increases in high humidity.
So people with asthma and respiratory allergies can be more comfortable if they monitor and control indoor humidity. I bought a hygrometer and have installed two dehumidifiers in the last few days and am surprised by the quantity of water they have collected, and how much easier breathing is.