As I recover from this serious sinus infection I have, I am also preparing to go to EA’s annual holiday party, which takes place this Saturday. It is interesting to note that almost two years ago to this week, I was also recovering from a serious sinus infection and getting ready to go to EA’s annual holiday party. I don’t like it when bad things repeat themselves with such noticeable patterns. The timing of it all is almost too predictable to be coincidence. If I had a poorer grasp of logic, I might even infer that scheduling the party causes the sinus infection to more likely to occur. Of course, the party has nothing to do with it.
If I had to be more analytical, it’s the weather and the time of year that deserves more scrutiny. The cold temperatures might be a factor. Last December was milder compared to this year. Two years ago, it was much colder, like it was this year. Colder temperatures means the heat is on more often. In my place, the heat makes the air in my apartment dry. Dry air does negatively affect your sinuses and leaves them susceptible to infection. Hmmm… now I’m wondering if I’m going to turn on the heat in my place, I should also ensure the air remains moist at the same time.
In my grad school residence, I used to take a cheap $5 electrical kettle I had and continuously boiled water in it to raise the humidity level in my room. When you boil water that fast, it raises the moisture level quite quickly and it never really has a chance to level off. On nights where I stayed in my room for hours, it became like a steamy jungle in there. My skin and sinuses were so comfortable. There were consequences though. The humidity was so high, it condensed everywhere in my room, including the insides of my very first digital camera, ruining it. In fact, the inside of the camera had a few sensors (stickers really) that detected if you dropped it in water or any other liquid. When I sent in the camera for a warranty repair, they rejected it because they said I had dropped it in water. Technically that wasn’t true but I had no way of fighting it.
Anyways, I think the lesson to be learned here is that I should invest in a real humidifier that should be used in conjunction with the operation of my baseboard heater in my room during the winter months.