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3 Tips For Minimizing Your Exposure To Seasonal Allergens

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If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you may wonder if there is anything you can do to decrease your exposure to the pollen and other environmental factors causing your symptoms. If so, do one or more of the following every day to minimize the amount of allergens around you.

Keep Your Car's Vent Control On Recirculated Air

While driving your car in the spring or fall, you may open your vents to allow the cool air from the outdoors into your vehicle. However, if you suffer from seasonal allergies, this could be a bad idea.

Since the air from the outside is filled with pollen, spores, and dust, you are increasing the amount of these allergens inside your car. Also, the fan forces the air towards your face, making you breathe them in even more.

When outdoor allergen levels are high, switch your air vents to circulate the inside air. This will keep you from adding more pollen and spores into your vehicle's interior, helping you breathe easier while you drive.

Wipe Your Face With A Damp Cloth Several Times A Day

When allergen levels are high, they can settle on your face. When the pollen and spores to which you are allergic stick near your eyes, nose, and lips, you are constantly exposed to the particles causing your sneezing, watery eyes, coughing, and other allergy symptoms.

To keep the allergens from building up, wipe your face with a damp cloth several times a day to remove them. This is especially important to do after you have been outside for more than a few minutes. Then, at the end of the day, wash your face thoroughly with soap and water to remove any residual particles.

Wash Your Hair At Least Every Other Day

As with your face, pollen, dust, and spores can settle on the strands of your hair. When this happens, every time you move, you could be shaking allergens loose. Then you breathe them in and increase your symptoms.

To keep the allergens from building up in your hair, you may want to wash it at least every other day. If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you may want to consider doing so every day. Ideally, this should be done at night so that you are not breathing in the allergy particles as you sleep, causing you to wake up with increased symptoms.

Using the above tips can help keep the pollen away from your face and out of your sinuses. However, if you find you are still suffering from symptoms on a daily basis, you may want to contact your allergist to discuss your treatment options.


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