The weather gets warmer, the snow begins to melt, and with it the trees and flowers begin to bloom. However with springtime comes the inevitable horror of allergy season, and there’s nothing worse than letting allergies ruin a perfect spring day. This season don’t let allergies get you down-follow our tips to keep your spring day sunny and not runny.

Pollen allergies occur when trees, flowers, and grasses begin to bloom, thus releasing pollen into the atmosphere. As you are exposed to pollen through your nose, mouth, eyes or skin—whether breathing it in through the air or simply by coming in contact with these allergens— your body’s immune system is triggered. Known as histamine, the runny noses, itchy eyes and rashes are just some of the ways your body reacts to fight the introduction of the foreign invaders into your system.

Symptoms include:

• Itching in the nose, roof of the mouth,
throat, eyes
• Sneezing
• Stuffy nose (congestion)
• Runny nose
• Tearing eyes
• Dark circles under the eyes

Here are several ways to treat and prevent these symptoms:

Keep your doors and windows closed: Of course it’s tempting to open your windows and let in the fresh spring breeze after a long winter, but when you do so, you’re allowing a cloud of pollen to enter your house, says James Li, MD, board-certified asthma and allergy specialist and chair of the division of allergic diseases in the department of internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. It may be a sacrifice, but it’s better to keep the doors and windows of your home and car closed if you have spring allergies.

Use allergy filters on your AC: It’s better to run your air conditioning than to open the windows on warm spring days, but be sure to use a good air filter on your ventilation unit to catch and filter out pollen.

Check the pollen levels: If your allergies are worse on high-pollen days, listen to the pollen count report before deciding how much time to spend outside. When pollen levels are high, exercise indoors and avoid outdoor activities if possible. You can get pollen and mold counts on your local news radio station or online with Everyday Health’s allergy pollen counter.

Saline nasal sprays or rinses: Over-the-counter saline sprays, squeeze bottles, or neti pot rinses can help to irrigate your nasal passages and remove mucus, debris, and allergens. These may not be as effective as corticosteroid nasal sprays, though.

Keep your nose clean: Your nose is the air filter for your lungs. Clean it out and get rid of all the pollen it traps. The easiest way is to buy a spray bottle of nasal saline at any drug store, then do a good job blowing your nose. For toddlers who struggle with nose-blowing, use a nasal aspiratory or bulb syringe to suck out their nose, just like you did when they were infants. A neti-pot is another option for nose cleaning, especially for older children and adults. A neti pot is an affordable device that allows you to irrigate your nose and sinues in your own bathroom.

Stop sweeping: When you sweep a floor, you stir up allergens. It can take several hours for them to settle again. Instead, invest in a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter and vacuum your floors.

Get friendly with fish:we recommends including plenty of fish in your diet to improve eye health and reduce eye irritation.

Rest your eyes:remaining glued to your computer for hours can strain and dry out your eyes.”The large and small screens of computers and mobile devices are a part of daily life, however, it has been demonstrated clinically that when we use our screens, we blink less and this can contribute to dry eye,”.

Keep pets outside: ensuring pets are kept outside your home, or at least restricted to a certain area of the house, is another way to keep eye allergies in check. Wash your pet weekly and remove hair from carpets or rugs – or ditch floor coverings altogether and vacuum regularly.

See your doctor: If your allergies are really bad, you may want to see a doctor. They can prescribe prescription medicine that is more powerful than the OTC medications, as well as possibly recommend you for allergy testing, or to receive immunotherapy. Also known as allergy shots, immunotherapy is intended to help those who suffer particularly badly from allergies by introducing small amounts of the allergen to help the body become desensitized to the allergens, preventing more severe symptoms from reoccurring.

Sources:

http://www.everydayhealth.com/allergies/enjoy-springtime-even-with-allergies.aspx

https://www.aaaai.org/Aaaai/media/MediaLibrary/PDF%20Documents/Libraries/EL-Spring-Allergies-patient.pdf