Coping with dry office air
 

This is the only high-volume forum I know of that's full of professionals and executives, so hopefully it's ok to post this here.

Several years ago I moved to northern Virginia, which is very dry in the winter. Although I love this area very much, I have trouble coping with the dry air. Every office I've worked in has the heater on (of course) which dries the indoor air out even more. At one place I worked, I took a little basement-type humidistat to work and it measured as low as 19% in the afternoons!

So I have a humidifier at home, and I've taken to doing regular sinus rinses and occasional saline nasal sprays, I drink water like a fish and occasionally hot tea. Still every day by about 3pm, my eyes feel like raisins and my nose is very irritated. Taking a humidifier to work is pointless because I work in a cubicle farm.

How does everybody else who works in dry areas like the northeast US cope? So far I seem to be the only one in my office who is bothered, which of course makes me feel like a prima dona or something. I don't complain, but it does bother me. Once I did ask our facility people about it, just to see what they'd say. They said that they don't have any kind of humidifier in the building HVAC, and in fact they try very hard to take humidity OUT of the air. I thought that was a bizarre answer - were they in Florida or something?

How do you all cope?

It really doesn't bother me that much but some things you can try.

If you have carpeting, "spill" water on it on a regular basis, it will humidify the air as it evaporates off. The tabletop water fountains work great too, and they are nice to listen to.

Plants around your desk are a huge help too.

Diluted fabric softener in a spary bottle every couple days cuts the static down to nothing, and helps hold the dust on the ground.

But a few times a year you will still feel like your lips and nose are cracking.

this is not communitybuzz! - and since the OP is not OMNIenabled, I close this thread

regards

chrissxb
co-moderator
communitybuzz!