Humidity may be as important as temperature when it comes to air conditioning, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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When it comes to managing with the dog days of summer, air conditioning is very helpful, especially for people with chronic lung problems. Johns Hopkins lung health expert William Checkley says clean systems with filters that are regularly changed are best, as are those with humidity settings that are neither too dry nor too wet.

Checkley: Most air conditioning systems have thermostats that can not only measure temperature but also humidity, so keeping track of humidity levels is important. Try to maintain your home anywhere between 40 to 60%. On one end if you dry out the air too much it leads to respiratory tract problems on the other hand if you're not adequately maintaining your AC then it minimizes the benefits of your air conditioning system. :26

Checkley says even with a whole house system for AC, pockets of high humidity such as basements or bathrooms may remain, so a dehumidifier may be necessary for those spaces in the house. Keeping humidity in a mid-range controls the growth of molds and fungi while not drying out our respiratory tracts too much. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.