Maintaining Allergies Outside

In our last blog, we shared tips to maintaining allergies within your home. Chances are you will want to leave you home at some point this spring. Today we share some guidelines for regulating allergies outside the house.

• Yard work can be one of the worse allergy instigators. Hire someone else to mow the lawn and rake the leaves. If you absolutely must be outside doing the yard work, cover up appropriately. Wear a hat so pollen does not get stuck in your hair. Goggles or sunglasses can protect your eyes. A face mask reduces pollen that you would breathe in. And avoid tracking anything into the home when you go inside by removing the clothes and washing them immediately.
• Encourage growth of plants in your yard and garden that are allergy-friendly. Apple trees, dogwoods, and cherry trees tend to be more allergy-friendly. Avoid trees such as birch, maple and oak which can actually irritate allergies.
• Just as we recommend that you keep your windows closed at home, keep them closed when you travel by vehicle. Using the air conditioning can help filter out some pollen.
• Pollen counts are highest in morning and at dusk. Plan your outside activities to when the pollen counts are lower during afternoon and early evening hours.
• Go outside after a heavy rainfall. Pollen counts will be low and have less movement in the air. Dry and windy days usually have the highest pollen counts so limit outside time.
• Sunglasses can be worn to reduce contact with pollen and minimize your eyes drying out.
• Take a vacation! We realize that taking a vacation for the entire length of allergy season is unlikely. However, planning some time away during peak pollen count and to a destination with low pollen can give you a temporary reprieve.

Contact our office to schedule an appointment at 404.255.9286 or by clicking here. We look forward to seeing you!