Allergy Tips From Brian

Can you hear them? The sounds of the season are alive and well, birds chirping, bugs buzzing around, the sounds of gardening and lawn work and the sound of sneezing all along the front range. It is allergy season. So many people suffer from allergies, I know that I have a severe allergic reaction to running so I just avoid that as much as I can, but for some folks getting away from the cause of the allergy is very difficult. According to the experts at the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America here are a few preventative measures to help you deal with the season. I have included my tips here as well. I am not an expert but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

-Minimize outdoor activity when pollen counts are the highest which is usually between 7 and 10 am. You can avoid this best by sleeping until 10:30.

-Shut the windows in your house when pollen counts are high. Use the air conditioner on those days for temperature control. If you do not have an air conditioner, you will be so hot and sweaty you will forget about the sneezing and congestion.

-When gardening or mowing the lawn, wear a filter mask. You can either look like your grandpa did and tug on the grey socks and powder blue shorts to go with it or just pretend you are Michael Jackson wearing a disguise in public.

-Wash your hair at night before sleeping to remove excess pollen and allergens. Then you can wake up with clean, pollen free matted pillow hair in the morning.

-Gently rinse the inside of your nose to remove trapped particles. I believe if you are drinking a beer and your buddy makes you laugh and you shoot beer out of your nose, that counts as a rinse. You may want to repeat this step over and over a few times to be sure. I am sure you will feel better.

Good luck all you sneezers. If none of these tips help, get a bubble to live in until summer. Achoo! Bless you.