Climate Change And Hay-Fever- How you can cope with it.

More summer, more pollen…more pollen, more hay fever. As a result of this we have to consider how you can protect yourself if you suffer from hay fever

How can you protect yourself if you suffer from hay fever?

For the 30% of Americans who are sensitive to plant and mold allergens and thus don't greet this news of a longer "hay fever season" with joy, the question arises, "What can we do to avoid spending the next six weeks in misery?" The answer is the same in this longer season as it was in previous shorter ones – limit your exposure. Spend more time indoors and less time outdoors, especially during the mornings, when the most pollen is in the air. When you're outdoors, wear a hat to keep pollen out of your hair (which acts as a kind of magnet to attract it), and wash both your hair and your clothes more often. When you wash your clothes and your bed linen, put them in the dryer rather than hang them outside on a line, where they'll just pick up more new pollen. And, of course, stock up on the medications (antihistamines, anti-inflammatories, nasal drops, etc.) that you normally use to suppress the symptoms of hay fever. Most important, if you or members of your family suffer from asthma, take note of this longer season and have the proper medications on hand if someone suffers from an attack.

A longer hay fever season is not quite as horrific a result of worldwide climate change as, say, the icecaps melting and the level of the oceans rising so much that they flood our coastal cities. But it is an indication that the impact of global warming – if it is as inevitable as scientists have predicted it to be – will not just affect us at some time in some unspecified future. It's affecting us today, here and now.