A recent study completed by Ye Yuan of the Technical University of Munich finds that allergy season is beginning earlier and lasting longer.
This is primarily caused by an upshot in climate change. As global temperatures increase, flowers begin to bloom earlier each year and produce pollen as much as two days earlier every year. In fact, over the past three decades pollen has emerged twenty days earlier overall.
Additionally, it is very likely that the pollen trends will continue, “as climate change, including rising temperature and increasing CO2 levels consistently contribute to pollen season and pollen transport” (Yuan). As climate change continues to change the current state of the world, it also brings serious health implications.
Not only does this affect those with seasonal allergies, but also becomes a health hazard with those with severe asthma or allergy-induced asthma.
Allergies, or allergenic responses, happen when the body registers a harmless substance in the body as a threat and creates an inflammatory response to react to it.
This causes inflammation in the nose, eyes, throat, and lungs. This can lead to asthmatic symptoms, or allergy-induced asthma. While it is hard to avoid the outdoors, it is important to reduce your exposure to triggers for your health and safety. Below are ways to reduce your exposure to allergy triggers:
Avoid allergy triggers, especially inside your home: While the outdoors are unavoidable, it is important to avoid bringing these allergens into your home where they may linger around in fabrics in the household (i.e. couches, carpet, linens, etc.). In order to do so, change clothes when coming from outside, wash the clothes, and rinse off your body.
Additionally, delegate any household chores like gardening, lawn mowing, and weed pulling to avoid being exposed to any environmental irritants. If you are going to do any outdoor work, consider wearing a mask and safety goggles to shield your eyes, nose, and mouth.