5 Must-Know Tips for Living with Allergies

Tuesday, March 21, 2017, 1:09 PM - Allergy management comes in many forms—from different allergy medicines to daily cleaning practices. 

The key to coping with allergies is to work at it, just a little bit, every day. 

Here are five easy tips to improve your life with allergies.

Manage stress to alleviate symptoms 

According to one study, people with persistent stress tend to experience more allergy flare-ups. 

Alleviating stress won’t cure allergies but it may help reduce your incidence of severe of symptoms. For starters, identify what’s triggering your stress so you can better manage how you react.

Trade your contacts for glasses

Contact lens wearers tend to experience worse allergy symptoms than those who don’t wear contacts. That’s because airborne allergens, like pollen, can accumulate and bind to contact lenses—leading to prolonged symptoms. 

To avoid this discomfort, consider swapping out your contacts for (some cool looking) glasses when the pollen count is high.

Create the ideal home environment

Think cool and dry. Dust mites and mold thrive in hot, humid conditions. 

The ideal indoor temperature for reducing allergens is between 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity should be no higher than 50 per cent.

Start treating early

If you know you have seasonal allergies, start taking your allergy medicine two to three weeks before pollen reaches its peak (in April or May for spring allergies and September for fall allergies in some areas of the country). 

Treating early can alleviate your allergy symptoms when the bulk of the pollen finally arrives.

Shower at night

Even if you’re normally a morning-shower person, it might be worth switching to night during peak allergy season. 

Showering and washing your hair at night can greatly reduce the concentration and length of time that you’re exposed to pollen.