Grandma's Moistening Kettle May Have Held Off Flu.

[elleng]

Source: NYT/AP

"Grandma may have been right about keeping a teakettle warming on the stove in winter to moisten the air. Studies of seasonal influenza have long found indications that flu spreads better in dry air. Now, new research being published Tuesday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, indicates that the key is the absolute humidity -- which measures the amount of water present in the air, regardless of temperature -- not the more commonly reported relative humidity.

Relative humidity varies depending on air temperature; absolute humidity doesn't."




Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/02/09/science/AP-SCI-Flu-Humidity.html

[xchrom]

1. damn grandma -- i didn't like you very much -- but

you knew what you were doing.

[hlthe2b]

3. Ahh, Grandma... when giving a cranky baby a hot toddy....

was "good medicine." Works for me now! :evilgrin:





Insert mandatory disclaimer here....;)

[xchrom]

11. ...

:spray:

[crikkett]

2. we have a floor heater, and there's a bowl of water on the grate.

suddenly our clothes didn't pick up static anymore.

[DevonRex]

34. We had a gas furnace in the dining room at my grandmother's house. She always

had a kettle of water on top of it. And the first thing she did every morning was to put fresh water in that kettle, with a few fresh mint leaves or cloves.

[liberal N proud]

4. Whole house humidifiers, the modern kettle

We made sure we had a humidifier installed on our new furnace. It helps with sinus, skin and general comfort in the house.

No itchy skin this winter.

[liberalmuse]

5. Is it me, or is that headline fucked up?

I always thought grandmas had very dry kettles rusting on the stove.

[aquart]

14. Different grandma. Mine knew.

Also, you can't run the oven for heat without a pan of water on the stove.

Have you tried Grandma tea? Milk, honey, and boiling water?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

6. I adored my grandma, but I don't think she knew about this nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. My grandma did know this, and passed it on.

She did not know about the flu, but did know that wood stove heat dried out the sinus/skin, so always had a tea kettle of water on the wood stove, and many years later when I had occasion to use a wod stove, I did the same. It helps to have a very heavy type of kettle, btw.
Now we have gas heat, it dries out the winter humidity. which is good for feeling warmer, but I still put a tea kettle on when we get stuffy.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

23. It's an excellent idea! nt

[dweller]

7. that moist air in the winter is the warmest

inside your house, regardless of your heat source.

I have a vent on my dryer that flips to inside/outside. I use it in the winter to provide the moist heat inside, and love its saunal effect.

dp

[Robb]

29. Eek

I hope you use that sparingly. There's a reason most code calls for dryers to be vented outside, mildew and rot coming to mind immediately.

A little goes a long way there. That said, good, cheap humidifier plan.

[bvar22]

36. WE also divert the (electric) dryer exhaust inside during Winter.

Our primary heat source is a wood stove, so the humidity is appreciated, as is the extra heat/energy that would have been wasted had it been vented outside. We have a good lint filter over the (electric) dryer exhaust which we clean after each use. Our cabin is mostly one large room with ceiling fans, so the water vapor gets quickly distributed throughout the whole cabin. The water vapor DOES condense on the cold window glass adjacent to the dryer, and I watch this area for any signs of problems.

We use our Solar Dryer (clothesline) whenever possible, and there is only the two of us, so actually drying clothes in the dryer during Winter may happen once or twice/week.

On very cold mornings when we have let the fire burn out during the night, we sometimes run the dryer empty for 15 minutes just to knock the edge off the cold until we can get a fire going.

We have been doing this for two years without any problems.

WE burn Oak and Hickory (plentiful) which we cut ourselves from our land, or our neighbors land...mostly still standing damaged or dying trees, or recent deadfalls. We DO use chainsaws for this, but we split by hand with an axe, or sledge hammer & wedges.

Our Heating Bill for the Winter was maybe $40.00 (small electric heater in the bathroom), and this includes the gas for the chainsaws and pickup.

Never, EVER, vent the exhaust from a GAS dryer inside your house. The risk from Carbon Monoxide is very HIGH.

There are kits available for about $10, but we use the FREE manual method.

Solar Clothes Dryer

Carbon Footprint = 0
Energy Cost = 0
Toxic emissions = 0
Money sent to Corporate America = 0

[Ian David]

8. Right about the kettle, wrong about cats stealing a baby's breath. n/t

[Nihil]

24. Depends on whether the cat was lying on the baby's head at the time ... (n/t)

:P

[Warpy]

10. I live in the desert

and I've only had the flu once since I've been here. At the time, I had the kettle and pots of soup and stew going on the woodstove.

It wasn't humidity or lack of it. It was lack of access to a flu shot that year and a blonde cashier coughing right into my face.

I still haven't forgiven the little twit. If I ever find her again, I'll return the favor.

[pansypoo53219]

12. my great-aunt still uses her WARM AIR

vaporizer. i boiled some water today.

[Earth_First]

13. It would cost a fortune to keep a kettle on the stove... n/t

[yellowdogintexas]

18. this kettle would have been on the old wood or coal burning stove, most

likely.

We had pot bellied stoves in our house and so did my great grandmother and there was a kettle of water on top of all of them

[Festivito]

19. Not really. I have had one on the stove for last 20 years.

Still have a stove with pilot lights. The one burner is about the same output as the stove's four pilots.

I always have ready hot water for tea. It's on right now, as usual. Takes a couple of hours to become nicely hot on the lowest setting.

[yellowdogintexas]

37. or a pilot light....

}(

[shraby]

15. When my kids were small I didn't have a dryer

so I hung the clothes on a line upstairs in the hall between the stairs and their bedroom. I could hang 4 loads on it overlapping the clothes and they'd be dry by morning..we had a forced air furnace which dried out the air. The kids very rarely ever had a cold or the sniffles even.

[Historic NY]

16. You know she was right...my aunt gave me one of the crock pot..

style potpourri cookers years ago. I used to use it all the time until this year. I forgot about it, until this past week and what a difference it made. I can breath a bit better and the upshot is the house smells better too. I add water to the scent oil.

[Duer 157099]

17. So then it's true: it's not the heat, it's the humidity

huh

[trotsky]

25. LOL

:thumbsup:

[Critters2]

20. While I had the flu/pneumonia, and lots of time to play on the internet,

I did a lot of research, and came to the same conclusion. I decided to improve humidity in my house. So, now I have one of these in every radiator:

http://www.kilianhardware.com/radhum.html



I really notice the difference in my skin and sinuses. And the cats like that there are water dishes in every room!

[elleng]

21. Neat gadget!

Had that radiator in 'old' house, just sold (damn). now have 'hot' air blowing up from floors. Have to find a solution. Never can brush my hair; electricity all over.

[ConcernedCanuk]

32. Keep that damm thing outta sight for them beer-drinkin' guys

.
.
.



sure could look like a place to drain the brain after a 6-pack or so

just sayin'

[JCMach1]

22. Get a good sphere for your office...

[trotsky]

26. When we got a new furnace a few years ago, I added a whole-house humidifier.

Makes such a difference in winter. When I'm at work my skin dries out but at home it recovers.

[Maine-ah]

27. I grew up with a woodstove and my parents always

kept a cast iron pot filled with water on top of it during the winter. We were rarely sick. I don't know if that's the reason why. I suspect for us there were other contributing factors. Almost all of our food was organic, my parents swapped veggies for other items such as fresh milk, and the pig we got every year too. No soda, no chips. Basically no crap.

[Algorem]

28. damn.she got run over by a reindeer on christmas and now i got the flu.

[EstimatedProphet]

30. Is this a sex thread?

[Wickerman]

31. So, since i have the flu and my Grandma never passed on this info

she is to blame? Fair enough, I guess. I love my Grandma but this flu is freaking miserable and I can't figure out where it came from.

[otohara]

33. I Have Pot of Water on Stove A Lot Lately

we've had no snow and my sinuses are screaming. The steam really helps.

When I lived in my old apt. I used to put a pan of water on the radiators - worked like a charm.

[omega minimo]

35. WITCH!!!!!!!!!