How to Minimize Allergies in Your Home and Garden
No matter what time of year it is, allergies will always be a problem. If you or a loved one suffers from allergies, there are things you can do in your home and your garden to make those allergies less of a problem and to minimize allergy symptoms. Here are our top home and garden tips to keep allergies at bay all year round.
Avoid Allergenic Plants
Some plants are more likely to cause allergic reactions than others. If you have outdoor allergies, you will want to avoid these plants in particular:
- Ash
- Cedar
- Oak
- Maple
- Cottonwood
- Rye grass
- Timothy grass
- Johnson grass
These are the more common plants that cause outdoor allergies, but in rarer cases, there may be other plants causing your symptoms, and allergy sufferers should be aware of which plants are likely to cause allergic reactions.
If you believe that gardening or simply being outside is causing allergy symptoms but you can’t point to a specific cause, check to see if any of these plants are in your garden. You should be able to identify them easily so you can remove them if you have any on your property.
Prepare Yourself when Gardening
You may not always be able to remove plants nearby that cause allergy symptoms. They may be on someone else’s property or the wind may blow pollen and spores to you from a great distance away. There may simply be some plants you want to keep on your property that does cause some mild allergic reactions. If you’re aware that plants are causing your allergies, though, that doesn’t mean you need to stay indoors. You simply need to take some precautions.
It can be very helpful to change your clothes after you come in from working in the garden or even being outdoors if you want to minimize your allergy symptoms.
Also, be sure to wear proper equipment that can keep you safe from allergens when working in the garden. You may want to wear gloves to protect your skin from contact reactions and a face mask or scarf to keep allergens from entering your airways. You may even want to wear full body protection, like long sleeves and long pants to protect any exposed skin.
When you know allergy season is beginning, you can start taking your allergy medicine in preparation. Don’t wait until the symptoms start to begin taking allergy medication. If you act preemptively, you can keep symptoms minimized and prevent them from even starting.
Keep Your Home Closed in Allergy Season
You may be letting allergens into your home unnecessarily. During the times of the year when your outdoor allergies become more apparent, you will want to close doors and windows in your home. This will prevent a lot of pollen and other allergens from getting inside.
Get Plenty of Fresh Air
The flip side of this is that getting fresh air into your home is a great way to ventilate it and keep your home from smelling musty. Opening up doors and windows to promote good air circulation improves your health and your immune system, making you less likely to get sick.
Clean Your Home Frequently
A clean home is one that’s less likely to have germs, viruses, and allergens in it. Of course, you won’t be able to eliminate all of those entirely, but you can greatly reduce the kinds of things in your home that make you sick and cause allergic reactions.
One of the best ways to do that is to simply clean your home on a regular basis. Daily cleaning keeps germs at bay and minimizes contact with allergens, especially if you’re wearing protective cleaning equipment.
It can also be helpful to deep clean every so often. You may not have time to do this as frequently as it should be done, which is why we suggest having professionals clean periodically. You can ask them to clean as in-depth as you want, and that deep cleaning can make a huge impact on how much pollen is hiding in your carpet, how much dust you have in your curtains, and how much mold is growing in your bathroom. Removing these irritants is going to help you to feel better and experience far fewer allergy symptoms.
Work Smarter
There are certain weather conditions that are better for allergy sufferers than others. On windy days, it may be best to stay inside and leave the gardening for another day when there’s not as much wind. You’ll be able to work more safely with a lower risk of allergic reactions if you wait to work on days with little wind.
Get Some Help
If you notice that mowing the lawn or weeding the garden causes you to suffer from allergic reactions, then you may want to have someone else do these tasks for you. It makes sense to pay someone to do that kind of work so you don’t have to deal with the allergy fallout. You could also ask friends or family members to help out periodically, so you’re not putting yourself at risk so much.
Ensure Clean Home Ventilation
The ventilation system in your home could be causing serious allergy problems as well. When was the last time you changed the air filters? They ought to be changed out a few times a year, otherwise, they can collect a lot of dust, pollen, and other allergens and then spread those throughout your home. You also want to make sure that your ventilation system is cleaned periodically and that vents are wiped down and free of dust as much as possible.
Stop Leaks Fast
If you have a leak in your home, that can lead to allergy problems as well, because mold thrives off of the water. Mold spores will spread through your home more easily if they can find a damp, dark area to grow in. By getting rid of leaks everywhere in your home, you minimize the mold risk and the allergy symptoms that result.
In Conclusion
What are you doing to ensure that your home and your garden are safe places for you or other allergy sufferers in your home? If you follow the advice we’ve given here, you could greatly reduce allergy symptoms in your home and breathe more easily.
