Allergy Relief

Spring has officially sprung, and I bet your allergies are acting up like no tomorrow. Chiropractic can help to alleviate some of your allergy symptoms, but there are plenty of things you're doing on a regular basis that are making your allergies even worse. Here's some of the most common "allergy-inducing" habits that you should try to change:

Your Plants

The main allergy-inducing components of spring are the flowers blossoming everywhere.  Most of that is out of your control, but you might have plants in your house that are irritating your allergies. Your orchids might literally be bringing you to tears. So check your houseplants and do a little digging into their allergy-inducing nature.

Chlorine Levels

We Floridians, usually consider our winters a time that's too cold for swimming. But it's definitely warm enough now to really enjoy the pool. Chlorine is highly irritant to the skin, eyes, and respiratory tract. When swimming, be sure to wear googles to protect your eyes!

Your Sheets

We've all seen some sort of study by now about how many dust mites are living in our mattress. The goal is to get them washed clean from your sheets so make sure you're washing your sheets at a hot enough temperature to kill all the dust mites!

Working Under Stress

Your stress hormones may stimulate the production of IgE and blood proteins that cause allergic reactions. Make sure to take breaks to clear your mind and get the proper amount of sleep as that can also worsen your allergy symptoms. 

Alcohol Consumption

Research shows a glass of red wine is heart healthy, but research also shows that alcohol can raise the risk of allergies by 3% for each alcoholic beverage consumed each week. This is believed to be caused by the bacteria and yeast found in alcohol which produce histamine that increases allergy symptoms such as itchy eyes and runny nose.

Making a few of these minor changes should really help decrease your allergy symptoms, but either way schedule an appointment with your chiropractor to give your body its best fighting chance this allergy season.