Dealing with Allergies: 5 Ways to Fight Back
If you have ever dealt with a runny nose, heavy wheezing and sneezing along with itchy eyes and throat, then you know how bad allergies can get. You also know that they can even worsen during blooming season, especially when it comes to pollen allergies. However, you should know that not only blooming plants affect your irritation. The most common allergy triggers actually live in our homes, and we are very often not even aware of them. Here are some useful tips to help you reduce your everyday allergy struggles and make your sneezy days at least a bit easier.
Don’t let the bed bugs bite
Have you ever found yourself waking up to a chaotic sneezing attack that seems to come out of nowhere? Furthermore, this seemingly unstoppable sneezing seems to end as soon as you get out of your bed. It’s not a coincidence that this happens every morning, neither does it happen only to you. Morning allergies come from dust and mite that accumulate on your bed sheets and pillow covers. In order to avoid having to take ten or more minutes of your morning to clean your nose, you should wash your sheets at least once a week on a temperature of 54 degrees Celsius or more. Feathers and wool can also be allergy triggers, which is why you should replace your feather bedding with synthetic materials.
Clean the clutter out
Dust loves clutters, and so do bacteria and other allergy triggers. Clutters are the parts of the room that rarely (or never) get cleaned because the point of the clutter is not to do anything with it (obviously). Therefore, you should avoid creating clutter in the first place in order to preserve an allergy-free surrounding. It’s also easy for a room to get full of dust if you pack a lot of stuff in it, even if it’s not cluttered. For example, small figurines and souvenirs easily get dusty, but let’s face it – we’re all too lazy to clean them one by one, so the inevitable accumulation of dust comes to be. Stuffed animals are also major dust attractors, so if you still haven’t found a good enough reason to say goodbye to your fluffy friends, then freeing yourself from allergies might just be the opportunity you were waiting for.
Breathe in clean air
It’s quite common knowledge that allergens spread through air but somehow a lot of us think that they spread only outdoors. However, locking up all your windows isn’t going to help you avoid the allergens from indoors. These indoor pests are even harder to get rid of since there is no wind to help you. Making a draft is only going to spread all the allergens further, and ACs are a particular allergen heaven (especially if they are not cleaned regularly). What you need in your home is a quality air purifier for allergies to help you filter out all those nasty allergens. The most popular HEPA filters are silent producers of totally clean air and they are small and fairly easy to move. They will not only get rid of allergens but they will also remove carbon and smoke particles.
Load your diet with vitamin C
A good way to arm yourself in the battle against allergies is by boosting your immune system, and a great way to do so is by boosting your vitamin C intake. Vitamin C prevents the formation of histamine, which is the substance you should blame for all the tearing and excess mucus. You can get more vitamin C naturally by eating a lot of citrus fruit (such as lemons, pomegranates and oranges) or by taking a daily dose of highly concentrated vitamin C pills. Around 2000mg a day should be enough to support your immune system to efficiently battle allergies.
Stay away from allergens
Finally, the easiest way to stay away from allergens is to simply avoid them. If you know you have problems with pollen, then going out in the woods in the middle of the blooming season would be a fairly stupid idea. You should also try to stay indoors as much as possible during dry, windy days. Leave all gardening duties on the side until the blooming period passes, and also try not to leave your clothes drying outside (they will catch some pollen, too).
If you are having a really bad allergy day, then try to stay at home and take some medication. Moving in the outdoors is only going to make things worse, and so is moving indoors if you don’t make your home allergy-proof. Hopefully, these tips will help you turn your home into a place where allergies know they are not welcome.
