Dealing with Spring Allergy Symptoms
Tips and treatments you can do on your own
Allergy season is getting worse every year. Climate change, increased carbon dioxide emissions, and urban planning are major culprits. While it will take time (and policy change) to impact these causes, you can do more than just sit back and suffer. There are many ways to lessen your exposure to allergens and reduce your allergy symptoms on your own.
To better understand seasonal allergies, let’s talk about what causes these symptoms in the first place. Our immune system has five main pathways to protect our bodies from invaders. One pathway uses an immunoglobulin called IgE. When your body encounters an allergen, it releases IgE, which then sets off an immune response causing sneezing, itching, watery eyes, congestion, cough, and other types of inflammation. The goal of IgE is to get invaders out of your body, but, in the case of allergens, it causes an overreaction to something that won’t actually hurt it.
In the spring, the most common allergens are pollens from trees and grasses. Pollen is airborne and primarily outdoors so it follows that the most obvious way to reduce spring allergy symptoms is to avoid breathing in pollen. Spending more time indoors during allergy season is one way to protect yourself. Allergy sufferers can also step outside donning a…
