AccuWeather speaks with Dr. Sandra Hong of the Cleveland Clinic on the impacts of spring weather that contribute to the severity of allergy season and how people can manage their allergies.
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00:00I have to ask, what are some of the worst types of allergies common for this season?
00:07Yeah, so I would say that at this point in time, typically springtime has tree pollens.
00:14I usually say from where it warms up until about Memorial Day is tree pollen season.
00:21And for these individuals, they can be absolutely miserable.
00:24You notice that they're stuffy and drippy and there's lots of itching, itchy eyes, itchy nose, itchy throats, and lots and lots of kind of misery during this period of time.
00:38Oh, excellent. All right. How does the variety of spring weather impact allergies?
00:42We can go anywhere from windy days to rainy days to changing humidity.
00:47Yeah, that's such a great question, because on windy days, these pollens can actually float for miles and miles and miles.
00:54So even if you don't have an oak tree or a birch tree in your yard, if there are some in the couple mile range and it's a dry, windy day, it just gets carried right out there on the wind.
01:06Interestingly, rain can do one of two things.
01:09Rain can actually, if it's a nice light rain, it can absolutely wash all that pollen out of the air and people actually feel better.
01:16However, as it continues to rain harder, it can actually break down the pollen and it can actually float up.
01:23It can give us a lot more mold allergies.
01:25And so, you know, it can do one of two things.
01:29But again, you know, this time of the year, definitely the more rain, the more that we have growth of the trees, the grass, the mold.
01:40So, you know, although it's like such gorgeous weather, you want to keep your windows open, you want to be out there kind of breathing in that fresh air.
01:49Typically, I ask patients to try to keep their windows closed, especially if they have lots of allergies.
01:54And although, you know, it's that time of the year, you're like, I'm going to draw my clothing outside.
01:58I would actually recommend against it because it's just going to be pulling in all that pollen in on all of your linens and then you're going to be sleeping with it.
02:07And we have about a minute left, Dr. Hong.
02:10So really quickly here, what steps can be taken at home when you're out of the house to try to protect yourself?
02:18Yeah, so a couple different things I actually ask patients to do.
02:23Again, I try to have them use air conditioning as much as possible if they're miserable during that period of time.
02:30Take showers before climbing into bed.
02:32If you're miserable with your eyes, and I typically think that springtime is where I see most of my patients that have really bad eye symptoms come in.
02:40You can wear protective eyewear that can actually keep the pollens from getting into the eyes, come in and wash your face during that period of time.
02:52Definitely change your clothes before going to bed at night.
02:54And I actually ask that your pets don't sleep with you if they're able to go outdoors, because basically they're covered in all of that pollen and you're just going to be sleeping with the trees.
03:05Absolutely.
03:06Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
03:09Thank you for having me.