These tips to avoid and prevent allergy will guide you through some very easy ways, which will prevent you from coming into contact with the risk factors that can cause allergies.
The suggestions explained below help to keep you safe from an allergy at home and in your office. They also explain methods to follow when you move outdoors. These tips hold good for adults and children.
Allergy symptoms can be quite a pain, what with a red itching skin rash making you want to scratch all the time, a blocked nose making breathing difficult, or an attack of allergic bronchial asthma.
It becomes all the more difficult when your child suffers from these symptoms and you have to give it the treatment with medicines that could have been avoided in the first place.
There are, however, ways to prevent these allergy attacks in you or your family members. All you have to do is follow these tips religiously.
They could prevent you from being the target of allergens that cause various allergy attacks such as:
- Animal dander from your pets such as cats and dogs
- Dust, smoke, pollution, and airborne pollen
- Insect bites and bee stings
- Eye allergy sources
- Air conditioning allergy
- Drugs
- And more
How to prevent allergies in babies and children?
Breastfeed your baby for the first four to six months. This will help increase the immune system of your child. Introduce solid foods from the fourth month onwards.
You could start introducing the following foods one at a time
- Fruits such as mashed apples, pears, and bananas
- Vegetables such as green vegetables, sweet potatoes, and carrots
- Cereal grains such as rice or oat cereal
This way, you can keep an eye on any food that may cause an allergic reaction in the baby.
Such type of early introduction in the baby significantly reduces the risk of your child developing an allergy to these foods.
Secondly, studies indicate that if children are encouraged to play outdoors, chances are greater that, they will not be allergic to common allergens such as pollen, dust, smoke, and certain plants, later in life.
Their immune system learns to recognize these substances early and does not give that exaggerated response which results in a hypersensitive allergy attack.
How to prevent allergies naturally in adults?
It is also a known fact that familial traits to allergy exist. So, if allergy runs in your family, you have all the more reason to read these tips carefully and follow them to the “T”
There are certain ways you can adopt to reduce the chances of getting that allergy again. As mentioned in what is allergy and what causes it, an allergy occurs as a result of contact with allergens. It could be
- Allergy due to skin contact
- Allergy due to inhalation
- Allergy due to ingestion (eating)
- Allergy due to injection
Keeping this in mind, it becomes easier for you to understand the steps explained below. The idea is to keep your house and yourself out of the reach of the allergens. this will naturally keep the allergies from developing. Which are the common allergens that you must avoid? Check them out below
1. Pollution
While traveling, use the air conditioning of the car, so that you do not inhale the smoke from outside. If on a two-wheeler, use a breathing mask.
2. New clothes
Use clean cotton clothes which give proper ventilation to the skin, so that sweat gets evaporated. Always wash new clothes once before wearing them. This will get rid of the formaldehyde, which is used in new clothes to give them a wrinkle-free look. Formaldehyde is the main culprit that can give you an allergy due to new clothing.
3. Dust
You should have the surfaces of furniture in the house wiped with a moist absorbent cloth where possible.
Have the floor of the house vacuum cleaned because sweeping with a broom will let the small particles of dust fly into the air and into your nose and lungs. This is a potential trigger for an allergic cold or an allergy-induced bronchial asthma attack.
Again, have the floor wiped with an absorbent cloth and use proper detergents. This should be done every single day.
4. Ensure proper ventilation in the house
Keep the house adequately ventilated to rid it of the stale and humid air. The ventilation system in your house acts as a defense against allergens. Besides keeping your home as comfortable as possible, it can help prevent allergies whether you’re allergic to pollen, pet dander, or dust. Poor ventilation generally creates problems for people who suffer from allergies.
5. Preventing allergy from insect bites and bee stings
- Have the windows of your house fitted with mosquito nets to keep out the insects and at the same allowing you to keep the windows open.
- Wear shoes outdoors. Avoid wearing sandals or walking barefoot in the grass.
- Cover garbage cans stored outside your house with tight-fitting lids.
- Drive your car with windows closed.
6. Preventing carpet allergies
- Avoid carpets in the house.
- Remove all carpets and use hardwood or linoleum flooring or washable area rugs.
- If that is not an option, vacuum clean your carpet at least twice a week.
- Wear a mask when cleaning your carpet.
- ideally, use a steam cleaner on your carpet.
7. Add door mats to your house
- Place a doormat at all entrances of your house including garage doors.
- Avoid door mats that are made from fabric.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends a three-step matting system that includes a grate-like mat, then an absorption mat, and finally a finishing mat.
- Additionally, leave your outside shoes at the door in a closed shoe rack. Keep separate footwear for use inside the house.
8. Allergy proof your house furniture
- You should have sofa covers, beddings, curtains, and such fabric material in your house once a week with warm water, if possible.
- Cover pillows and mattresses in dust-mite-proof covers.
- Use washable curtains that are made of plain cotton or synthetic fabric.
- Use easy-to-clean chairs, dressing tables, and bedside tables made of wood, metal, or plastic. Avoid upholstered furniture.
- Remove items that collect dust, such as things on tabletops, books, and magazines. Store children’s toys in plastic bins.
9. Avoid house plants
- Do not keep house plants as they will breed dust mites.
- Secondly, any flowering houseplant can cause airborne allergens because they produce pollen.
10. Use a dehumidifier
Use a properly maintained dehumidifier in moist places like the basement, bathroom, and kitchen to keep the humidity low and the mold spores away. Dehumidifiers help dry excessively moist atmospheres where potential allergens like dust mites and mold thrive. This will help solve your sinus problems and make it easy for you to breathe.
11. Take care of your house garden
Trees, plants, and weeds in your garden produce pollen that is released in large quantities, which you may easily inhale. If you have a garden house, keep the windows closed, and use an air conditioner, whose filter is regularly cleaned. This will keep the airborne pollen away.
12. Avoid smoking in the house
Cigarette smoke and secondhand smoke increase the risk of allergic rhinitis and asthma. Children are very vulnerable. If you have to smoke, do it outside in the open. Avoiding cigarette smoke is the most important factor to prevent allergy.
13. Keep your house rodent-free to prevent allergy
Keep pests, like rodents out of the house. Control cockroaches and mice with traps. It will be best to hire a professional pest controller for more effect. To remove insect and mouse residue, thoroughly vacuum clean the carpeting and wash hard surfaces with soap and water. To prevent re-infestation, seal all possible entry points.
14. Preventing allergies from pets such as dogs and cats
- Animal dander (tiny scales of skin and hair) is a common allergen. Avoid, therefore, keeping pets if you or your family members are allergy patients.
- But, if you have to, then keep them out of your bedroom. Bathe your pets with medicated shampoo every 15 days and brush them every day outside the house. Use a face mask to cover your face so that you do not inhale the animal dander that is released into the air during brushing.
- Wash your hands immediately after petting the animals.
15. Preventing food allergies
Be careful of what you eat. Do not let the common food allergens enter your diet. Always look at labels to see if the stuff that you are buying contains the allergy-causing food or its constituents. Food allergies can cause problems ranging from eczema to life-threatening allergic reactions.
Common food triggers include peanuts, tree nuts, cow’s milk, egg, soy, wheat, fish, and shellfish. Among these egg, dairy, peanut, tree nuts, fish and shellfish can cause a more severe reaction.
16. Avoiding drug allergy
While taking any medicines, always remind your physician of your allergy, in order that he can avoid giving you the medicines that commonly cause allergy.
The list is long and web.MD gives the names of some common ones.
17. Preventing eye allergy
Allergic conjunctivitis is seasonal and is the most common form of eye allergy seen in spring, summer, and fall depending on the type of pollen that is airborne. Besides the tips mentioned above, you could follow some more precautions to avoid getting eye allergy. They include:
- Pollen counts are most in the air during the mid-morning and early afternoon. Try and stay indoors during such hours.
- Wear glasses when you venture outdoors.
- Keep windows and doors closed and use an air conditioner to prevent pollen and dust from entering your home and office.
18. Preventing allergy caused by air conditioners
Some people get allergic rhinitis or an asthma attack when they remain in an air-conditioned room. Though this percentage is low, it can be quite uncomfortable, especially in the hot and humid climate.
So, instead of having your sweat bathing you all day, the following tips will help you remain cool, and comfortable and also help to prevent allergy.
- Clean the filter of the a/c regularly to keep it free from dust.
- To keep the risk of allergy at a minimum, keep the temperature as high as you feel comfortable with. 22 degrees Celsius would be ideal.
- An air-conditioned room can get pretty dry at times. Use an air humidifier to maintain the humidity at the minimum comfort level, 40% ideal.
In conclusion
What do these tips tell you? They just give you simple means to avoid coming into contact with common allergens in everyday life. With this principle in mind, you can devise steps you should take to suit your everyday life routine and needs to avoid and prevent allergy.
