When the air is heavy with mold spores or pollens from trees, grasses, or weeds, about 35 million Americans experience sneezing, stuffy or runny noses and itchy, watery eyes. For some, allergies can also trigger asthma symptoms.
As we enter the spring sneezing season, here’s what you need to know about allergy timing, and how you can use that knowledge to feel better.
For most seasonal allergy sufferers, winter brings welcome relief. That’s because cold, dry air limits mold growth and most pollen-producing plants go quiet, at least for a while. There are exceptions: Molds in Florida and grass pollens in California persist year-round. And mountain cedar trees spew pollen through most of the winter in central Texas and some other parts of the Southwest. Elsewhere, allergy season starts when trees resume growing and pollinating in the spring.
From an allergy standpoint, spring doesn’t necessarily start in March or at the same time everywhere. Instead, a northward march of rising tree pollen levels starts in the South, usually in January, and reaches more northern climes, including the Northeast, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest, often between mid-February and mid-March. As different tree species awaken from their winter rest, new pollens join the mix, extending tree pollen season through June in some places.
Meanwhile, grass pollens emerge between April and June and are shortly joined by weed pollens, which typically peak in late summer. In some places, grasses peak again in the late summer as well.
The first frost, which varies depending on where you live, puts an end to pollen season in most of the United States.
If you have seasonal allergies, you may have noticed that pollen seasons seem to start earlier these days. Studies confirm the change is real: Plants are releasing pollens earlier, starting with trees in the late winter and early spring. In the first decade of the 2000s, pollen seasons for trees, grasses, and weeds in the United States started an average of three days earlier than they did in the 1990s. A more recent study found that North American pollen seasons last an average of eight days longer than they did in the 1990s. The shift toward earlier, longer seasons is expected to continue.
Rising temperatures are to blame. Warmer weather in the winter and early spring jump start the growing seasons of pollinating plants, while later frosts in the autumn keep them going. Climate change also appears to be responsible for higher pollen levels in the air.
Taken together, the changes mean people are exposed to more allergy-causing substances for a longer time, something that may explain why seasonal allergies are becoming more common. Even older adults, once considered unlikely to develop new allergies, are becoming newly allergic at higher rates than in the past.
Use these tips to limit your exposure to pollens and molds when counts are high:
Talk to your doctor about a treatment plan. It may include medications in addition to limiting your exposure. One strategy may be to start some medications before pollen counts start to rise. For example, inhaled nasal steroids, a mainstay of treatment, take several days to start working, so it can be smart to begin using them a week or two before your symptoms typically start. If you have severe or long-lasting symptoms that are hard to control in other ways, you may be a candidate for allergy shots, which are injections that reduce your sensitivity. That can be a great long-term strategy but not a path to instant relief: It can take several months to see results.
You can’t control plant pollination or outdoor mold growth, but you can use your knowledge of seasonal patterns as a starting point to tackle allergy symptoms.
