With blooming flowers, green leaves sprouting out of the trees and grass growing, spring can be a wonderful season. Unless you have spring allergies, which can make your life seriously uncomfortable with sniffles, sneezes, and even more uncomfortable symptoms. Gaining insight into these allergic responses and learning effective strategies to alleviate them is essential for embracing the season to its fullest.
How do spring allergies affect your health?
Seasonal allergies occur when our immune systems overreact to environmental allergens such as pollen, mold spores, and other airborne particles. This overreaction triggers the release of chemicals like histamines, leukotrienes and prostaglandins in your body, leading to the all-too-familiar allergy symptoms, according to Yale Medicine. Recognizing these symptoms is key—they often mimic colds but are distinguished by their seasonal occurrence and lack of fever.
Spring allergies usually present with symptoms like itchy, watery eyes, throat irritation, and stuffy, runny nose. Some symptoms, for example, post-nasal drip (drainage in the throat), fatigue, and coughing, can be even more unpleasant. As Christina Price, MD, a Yale Medicine allergist and immunologist, notes, these can make people feel extremely tired.
Spring allergens and warmer temperatures can have a profound effect on allergic conditions, including asthma and eczema as well, reports News Medical. Pollen and other environmental allergens can trigger flare-ups of eczema, a chronic inflammatory skin condition, in individuals with sensitive skin. Seasonal allergic conjunctivitis (SAC) with itching, redness, burning and clear, watery discharge and chronic dark circles around the eyes is another allergic reaction to spring allergens.
Common spring allergens
Spring allergies usually kick off in February and persist into early summer. The usual culprits include pollen from trees, grasses, and weeds, and mold spores carried by the wind. According to The American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI), in more tropical climates, grass can pollinate throughout the year though, and even mild winters or a rainy spring can make the plants grow more quickly and increase mold growth. This makes the correct diagnosis, treatment, and taking the proper precautions paramount.
The largest amounts of pollen are disseminated by trees and grasses, according to Medical News Today. The most common allergy-inducing tree pollen includes alder, aspen, ash, beech, birch. From the variety of grasses, the most likely culprits are orchard, Kentucky, Bermuda, Johnson, and rye.
Allergens, including pollen and molds, are most prevalent during cool nights and warm, breezy days, with pollen counts surging during windy conditions. Peak pollen levels vary by season and the plants in bloom. In spring and summer, pollen levels surge in the evenings, while mornings bring more of it in late summer and fall. Molds thrive in warm, humid conditions. Tree pollen peaks in March and April, grass pollen in June and July, and ragweed and mold become prevalent in the fall.
Practical tips for reducing allergy risk and symptoms indoors
You can employ various strategies to ease seasonal allergies. Minimizing exposure to allergens triggering your symptoms is one effective approach. Seeking accurate diagnostics and medical treatment can significantly help manage allergies. We’ve compiled the best tips and tricks so you can choose the best combination for you.
To minimize the allergen exposure levels, consider the following:
Keep the allergens out! Shut the windows in your home and car, remove your shoes before entering the house, keep the grass on your lawn short, and stay away from dead or rotting logs.
Use an allergen tracker! If the counts are high, try avoiding or decreasing your outdoor activities. Try Pollen.com, AccuWeather.com, or the Worldwide Map of Pollen Monitoring Stations for allergen trackers in your region.
Wear protective clothing! Wearing a hat and sunglasses to protect your eyes and hair from allergens is a good idea. So is wearing a mask when mowing the grass.
Get rid of allergens! Take a shower after spending time outdoors and change your clothes as well. Rinse your eyes of the allergens and moisten them by using some artificial tear drops.
Clean your house thoroughly! Vacuum carpets and upholstered furniture with a small-particle or HEPA filter vacuum once or twice a week. Washing your bed linen weekly will keep the allergens from accumulating as well. Wipe down hard surfaces regularly. Finally, cut the clutter!
Take care of the indoor air quality! Use allergy-friendly filters like HEPA on air conditioning units to capture pollen and mold spores, ensure regular (at the start of each season) change of air filters, and keep your air vents clean. Keeping the indoor humidity low is a good idea and is one of Aranet4 indoor air quality monitor’s key functions.
For treatment, over-the-counter options like antihistamines and nasal sprays can provide immediate relief. If you have a history of seasonal allergies, doctors recommend starting medications to avoid symptoms two weeks before they are expected to begin.
For those seeking a long-term solution, immunotherapy or allergy shots have been shown to be effective. It can be worth a while to do allergy tests to choose the right course of action. Seeing a specialist like an allergist or consulting with your general healthcare provider to create a battle strategy together will help too.
By understanding what triggers seasonal allergies and how to combat them, we can all breathe a little easier this spring. With a few simple adjustments and the right treatments, the beauty of the season can be enjoyed with minimal discomfort.