While summer can be a time for barbecues, baseball games, family picnics and other fun outdoor activities, those who suffer allergies can have a miserable time. Most pollens and many allergens are at their height during the summer months outside, but there are measures that can be taken to reduce how they affect life inside the home.
Know What Triggers Your Allergies
The first step is to understand to what you’re allergic to. For something inside the home, such as dust or cat dander, there are a number of options to reduce the amount of allergens in your home. Most frequently cited are regularly dusting and vacuuming the home, potentially getting rid of pets, or at least limiting pets to spaces outside the bedroom. However, for people with seasonal allergies that come from pollens and allergens outside the home, other measures must be taken.
Keep Allergens Outside
The key to reducing pollens and allergens in the home is to keep them from entering the house as much as possible. Keep doors and windows closed, particularly during the morning hours and early evening, when pollen counts tend to be highest. It also helps to follow the pollen forecast, easily found online, in the newspaper, or on the evening news, as pollen and allergen counts can change day by day. Minimizing open doors and windows on particularly bad days can go a long way toward keeping pollens outside.
Use Doormats
Another way to keep allergens out of the home during the summer is to have two doormats, one outside the house and one inside the door. Emphasizing to family and guests that they should wipe their feet on both mats and remove their shoes when they enter the home will keep pollens from being tracked inside. For those who do not want to remove their shoes, cotton booties are an additional option.
Use An Air Purifier
Many seasonal allergy sufferers also find benefit from having a quality air purifier in the home, particularly in the bedroom. Based on natural biorhythms and hormonal cycles, allergies tend to be exacerbated in the earliest morning hours, so having an air filter or air purifier in the bedroom can help reduce the amount of pollen and allergens floating around during that critical time. Be sure to find a quality air filtration system to make sure your home is free of common household allergens, says the professionals at Cydcom Services Ltd.
For allergy sufferers who remain symptomatic or uncomfortable even after taking measures to reduce pollens and allergens, a visit to a doctor is recommended to understand additional steps that can be taken. However, the above steps can help provide allergy relief for many allergy sufferers during the summertime.