Summer allergies are nothing to sneeze at.
While longer, warmer days are a welcome reprieve from winter, the tell-tale signs of coughing, sneezing, congestion, teary eyes, fatigue, malaise, and breathing like SpongeBob after a bender are not.
Many combat allergy symptoms with pills and sprays, but experts now suggest an easy addition to your nighttime routine could hold the key to relief — a pre-sleep shower.
“For allergy sufferers, going to sleep with the pollen that has coated the hair, skin and respiratory tract can mean longer exposure to what you are allergic to ― even when you’re no longer outdoors,” Dr. Monica Kraft, an allergist and immunologist at the Ohio State University, explained to HuffPost this week.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 25% of adults and nearly 19% of children have seasonal allergies.
To make matters worse, the punishing effects of pollen are more painfully prevalent than ever.
Experts believe mild winters have increased the rate and severity of early-onset allergies.
“It’s getting warmer earlier,” Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist with the Allergy and Asthma Network, told The Post in April. “And not only is the season longer, but plants are also producing more pollen. So it’s a longer and stronger season each year. And that’s a trend that we’ve been regularly seeing.”
Allergy season typically begins around April. This year, due to the presence of “pollen bombs,” people have been feeling the effects earlier and to a more acute degree.
In addition to being uncomfortable, allergy symptoms can compromise our summer socializing, with a recent study finding that nearly a quarter of Americans (22%) have missed out on at least five outdoor events they wanted to attend over the past year because of allergies.
Perhaps as a result of this limitation, allergies have been linked to depression.
A nighttime shower before bed may help. Kraft noted that steam from a hot shower not only removes pollen — it also loosens mucus.
For those looking to double down on feeling better, experts suggest showering and changing clothes as soon as you get indoors to reduce the amount of pollen on the skin and the amount brought into the home.
Allergy sufferers should also consider washing their hair more often, as pollen clings to strands that hang close to the face, aggravating symptoms. Those who don’t want to shampoo daily can wear a bonnet at night to keep hair from their face and pollen from their pillows.
Washing sheets and bedding frequently is also beneficial to keeping the bad stuff at bay.
Dr. Mas Takashima, the chair of the otolaryngology department at Houston Methodist, encourages “regularly cleaning your bedding ― especially down in the South, [where] dust mites are very prevalent in moist, humid environments.”
Takashima also advises those with allergies to invest in a HEPA filter for their bedrooms to reduce allergens in the air.
“I think we all tend to forget that we spend seven, eight hours in our bedrooms,” he explained to HuffPost. “And so if that’s the case, why not try to make that into an area … where you’re prone to be less allergenic?”
Along with showering and keeping sheets clean, experts suggest allergy sufferers take allergy medications a few weeks before symptoms normally start, to give the medicine time to build up in the system.
Wearing sunglasses and hats outdoors, meanwhile, decreases the amount of pollen that transfers to eyes and hair, lessening the severity of allergy symptoms.
Takashima notes that peak pollen times are early in the morning and late in the afternoon. To manage allergies, he recommends the pollen-prone stay indoors during these hours.
