An increased exposure to dry air — occurring more due to global warming — could heighten risk of dehydration and inflammation in breathing tracts, a study has found. Inflammation in the airways can increase one’s risk of respiratory infections and worsen conditions such as asthma.
The researchers, led by those at Johns Hopkins University, US, explained that as the Earth’s atmosphere continues to heat up, with relative humidity remaining the same, ‘vapour pressure deficit’ — a measure of the air’s ‘thirst’ for water — can increase rapidly.
Relative humidity is the moisture present in air relative to the maximum that it can hold at a given temperature.
The higher the vapour pressure deficit, the more the air’s thirst and thus, water evaporates more quickly, thereby dehydrating ecosystems, the researchers said….