Tips for Spring allergies, part 2

Seasonal allergies may feel unavoidable if you suffer from them every single year. But there is hope for you! Work on prevention!

If you search for how to prevent seasonal allergies you often find the suggestion to avoid the allergen. This makes sense. But pollen is one of the most common triggers of seasonal allergies. To avoid that you have to

• keep your windows shut.

• avoid going outside, especially when the pollen blowing around is highest.

If you’re anything like me, you enjoy having the windows open and being outside in nature. Not doing that would drive me nuts. So let’s discuss other prevention methods.

Tip #1 Keep using the tips to calm the symptoms

In this article, I offer tips to calm those annoying symptoms. Keep using them! Even when you’re feeling better. Those same tips can double as prevention.

Be consistent!

The next tips require you to reduce the toxic load on your body. What the heck is toxic load?

Toxic load refers to the harmful chemicals that can accumulate in your body through exposure to pollutants in your environment. These pollutants can be in your surrounding environment and also in items put in or on your body.

Being exposed a handful of times isn’t as much of a concern. The daily, weekly, chronic exposure to toxins is a concern because it adds to your body’s toxic burden. Your body has to handle the toxins. Reducing your exposure to toxins lightens the load on your body.

Tip #2 Detoxify your cleaning products

Traditional consumer products can include a variety of chemicals that emit harmful VOCs (volatile organic compounds) (1). Some are found in both scented and unscented products. And many can affect our health.

Details on specific health effects from a specific VOC can be found on the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s website. There is an entire database detailing how these toxins can affect different systems in your body.

Here’s a few commonly found chemicals:

Phthalates– found in air fresheners, dish soap and other fragranced household products. Phthalates are known endocrine disruptors.

Triclosan – found in most dishwashing soaps and hand soaps labeled “antibacterial.” The use of triclosan promotes the growth of drug-resistant bacteria.

Quarternary Ammonium Compounds (QUATS) – found in fabric softener liquids and sheets and in most “antibacterial” household cleaners. Similar to triclosan, QUATS promotes antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They’re also considered a skin irritant and affect the respiratory system.

Ammonia – found in glass cleaners and polishing agents for bathroom fixtures and sinks. Ammonia is a powerful irritant as it’s almost always inhaled and affects your respiratory system. And of course, it creates a poisonous gas if combined with bleach.

Chlorine – found in toilet bowl cleaners, mildew removers, scouring powders, and laundry whiteners. You’re exposed through both inhalation and skin contact when cleaning with it. It’s known to be a respiratory irritant.

Those are just a few chemicals found in traditional household cleaners. I didn’t scratch the surface of how these toxins can affect our body (and I certainly didn’t address how they affect the environment).

What do you do?

Start small. Try swapping out one household cleaner. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has an amazing database! You can search to see how your current cleaner is rated and find an alternative if needed. You can also decode the labels.

*** A note for any DIYers out there… I’m working on a future article on making household cleaners. Keep an eye out for that!

Tip #3 Take a look at your food.

Take a close look at what you’re putting in your body. Unwanted toxins can come along with food and add to your body’s toxic load.

Learning to read labels is a must. To help you with that I’ll refer you to Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, Angie Vereecke. She has a lot of information on the importance of reading labels here. You’ll also find tips to get started as a label reader.

Tip #4 Improve your air quality

The quality of the air in your home is important! Recent studies show how poor our indoor air quality really is. There are 2 big reasons why this is concerning. First, any pollutants are more concentrated since the amount of air and space is smaller. And second, we spend a lot of time in our homes, so our exposure is constant.

Improving the quality of air can reduce allergens that trigger those darn allergies. How can you improve the quality of air in your homes?

• Keep the dust and dander in check. Vacuuming and dusting regularly help reduce allergens in your home, especially if you have pets.

• Change the filter on your HVAC system. This is something we often forget to do in our home and when we change it we are amazed (or maybe horrified!?) at how dirty it is.

• Invest in an air filter. We purchased an air filter for our living space and have been pleased with it! We bought an Air Doctor (I’m not an affiliate, just a fan). I also keep a smaller version in my office.

• Add indoor plants. The research on how effective indoor plants are at removing pollutants varies. Some studies concluded that various plant species could reduce air pollutants, while others conclude this is not the case (2, 3).

My conclusion…plants are a wonderful addition to the home. If there’s even a tiny possibility that they reduce pollutants that’s just another reason to enjoy them.

Commonly suggested plant species for the home:

• Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea seifrizii)

• Rubber plant (Ficus elastica)

• English ivy (Hedera helix)

• Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata)

• Mother-in-laws tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Laurentii’)

• Peace lily (Spathiphyllum ‘Mauna Loa’)

• Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum ‘Vittatum’)

• Philodendron (Philodendron)

• Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis Miller)

• Ficus (Ficus benjamina)

Tip #5 Wash up

Remove clothes you’ve worn outside and shower. Get any pollen and dust off your skin and out of your hair. This can help reduce your exposure to these allergy triggers.

After I shower I like to then rinse my nose with my saline spray.

Working on prevention in addition to treating symptoms offers a more comprehensive approach to seasonal allergies. The last part of this approach is to support your immune system and overall health.

We’ll tackle that topic in the next article!

Sources:

1. Steinemann, A. 2015. Volatile emissions from common consumer products. Air Qual Atmos Health 8, 273–281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-015-0327-6

2. Han, KT., Ruan, LW. 2020. Effects of indoor plants on air quality: a systematic review. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 16019–16051. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08174-9

3. Cummings, B.E., Waring, M.S. 2020. Potted plants do not improve indoor air quality: a review and analysis of reported VOC removal efficiencies. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 30, 253–261. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-019-0175-9