What You Should Be Doing About Your Allergies

More than 50% of people suffer from allergies. Those statistics can be difficult to come to terms with. If you suffer from allergies, you will already know how irritating and painful the symptoms can be. This article is written to give you helpful advice for relieving allergy symptoms.

When the weather is nice, you may be tempted to open the windows in your home to save money on cooling costs. However, those open windows can cause nasty allergy flare-ups. Instead, run your air conditioner outfitted with an allergen reducing HEPA filter. This might not feel quite as fresh but it will help you breathe easier.

Dust Mites

People’s tolerance to allergens changes as they age. Babies can first show evidence of allergies when initially exposed to the proteins in foods. As babies grow into children, they are exposed to different protein allergens and may later develop allergies to pollen. After years of encountering no reactions to pollen or other allergens, your child may suddenly display allergy symptoms at some point. Do not immediately eliminate the possibility that he or she is truly allergic.

Dust mites are very difficult to avoid. As you might have expected from the name, these critters are a fixture on mattresses and pillows. They eat the flakes that you shed from your skin. That’s gross! To fend off these undesirables, hide your bedding in protective, zippered covers. You can also replace cotton and other similar fabrics with synthetic fibers. Dust mites aren’t too big on synthetics.

If you suffer from allergies, but you are wanting to have a pet anyways, you should try to have a pet with short fur. The truth is that any animal with hair has the potential to inflame your allergies, but the shorter the hair is, the less allergens you have to contend with. In order to cut down on the negative effect that your pet might have on you, do not let them sleep in your bed.

While skin tests are useful for identifying potentially problematic allergens, it is almost impossible to use test results to predict the probable severity of an allergic reaction to those substances. For example, a test may indicate that you are allergic to a certain type of spore. You might be one of those people that experiences allergy symptoms so mildly that you do not feel any discomfort.

For animal lovers out there who also suffer from allergies, it’s best if you select some type of pet with shorter hair. Any animal that you are allergic to can cause unpleasant symptoms, but those with longer fur make symptoms worse. Prevent your pet from worsening your allergies by providing its own bed rather than letting it sleep with you.

Exercise either in the early morning or late evening to avoid high pollen counts. It has been shown through numerous studies that pollen levels rise during mid day, but are lowest during the morning and early evening.

Think about pulling up the carpet in your home. Pollen and dust tends to gather on carpets. If carpeting is currently in your home and you have the finances to make a change, you may want to consider switching over to tile, wood, or laminate flooring. This will make an amazing difference in the amount of allergy-causing substances you breathe. If you cannot change your floor, be sure to vacuum everyday.

As stated at the beginning of this article, although we spend most of our time outside, many of us have allergies of one form or another. Indoors, outdoors, pets, pollens or otherwise-hopefully this article has provided you with tips you can begin using today to improve the quality of your life with allergies.

A plethora of allergy and antihistamine products are available over the counter, yet not all find relief from them. Talk with your doctoring about possibly getting a sample pack or buy the smallest size available. If that product doesn’t help your allergic symptoms, then you could move on and try a different one without wasting a lot of money.