Humidity: the evil twin of summer that frizzes your hair, stirs up your acid reflux, and still expects you to smile about “beach weather.” For those of us who suffer from the former, it can be like a gulp of hot air every time we step outside to go from our home to the car, car to store; rinse, repeat. Interestingly, the very same culprit is also responsible for improved breathing, less static, and is great for your voice. Chile and Saudi Arabia are known as the least humid countries, while Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia are the most humid.
Some interesting facts about humidity: the reason that it makes the heat index hotter is that it stops your body’s ability for sweat to evaporate, thereby trapping body heat. Additionally, sound travels farther and faster in humidity, as it is less dense than the oxygen and nitrogen that normally fill the airspace. How about the old wives’ tale that we get sick from the cold? This can also, in many ways, be tied to cold and flu viruses, which often spread better in low humidity, the environment we find ourselves in, in the winter (in addition to many other factors).
