How Humidity Can Make Your Allergies Worse

Got seasonal allergies? Or maybe your allergy symptoms stick around all year long? Then you should know how high outdoor and indoor moisture levels can make your allergies act up big time. Whether you deal with a runny nose, breathing issues, watery eyes, incessant sneezing, or even skin reactions, high humidity can potentially aggravate your symptoms.

Read on to learn how humidity can make your allergies worse and what you can do to help lessen your symptoms.

Rainy Weather and Pollen Allergies

Rainy weather can exacerbate your allergies because a good drench encourages plants to grow and produce more pollen. Heavy raindrops can also break up large pollen clumps, especially those that tend to hang around in weeds and grass. Once those clumps break apart, the individual pollen granules that form them are much more likely to become airborne.

Rainstorms accompanied by moderate to heavy winds can also move pollen granules around, encouraging them to fly through the air and up in your nasal passages, eyes, and lungs.

High Humidity and Mold Allergies

According to the EPA, mold allergies are quite common. So whether you know you’re allergic to mold or think you might be, you should know how indoor and outdoor humidity can affect your health.

Whether it’s humid outdoors or inside your home, high levels of moisture in the air encourage mold to grow and spread. Mold spores are incredibly lightweight, and, like pollen granules, can easily be disturbed by air movement.

If you’re outdoors and there’s mold around, even a light breeze can kick up those spores and send your allergy symptoms into overdrive. If you’re inside your home and there’s mold in your HVAC system or anywhere else, it will quickly diminish your indoor air quality and, ultimately, exacerbate your allergy symptoms.

Tips for Reducing Humidity and Improving Indoor Air Quality

If you’ve noticed your allergy symptoms get worse when it rains, or if you’ve been dealing with worsening symptoms indoors and don’t know why, here are a few things you can do to help:

●        Avoid going outdoors more than you need to for at least a couple of days after a storm.

●        If your thermostat doesn’t measure humidity, get a hygrometer or two (they’re super affordable), and place them in various rooms throughout your home. If your indoor humidity levels exceed 50%, that’s not good. Use dehumidifiers to help fix the issue.

●        Get your indoor air quality tested. If your test results come back positive for mold or other substances you’re allergic to, consider using air purifiers to clean up your indoor air.

●        Schedule a professional duct cleaning appointment. Duct cleaning removes all the dust and other allergens from within your HVAC system’s air ducts, so your a/c and heater will be less likely to push those particles into your living spaces. 

Ready to Fix Your Indoor Air Quality? Call Dust Doctors!

If your allergies have been acting up, improving the air quality inside your home can make a big difference. At Dust Doctors, we specialize in a variety of indoor air quality improvement services for Twin Cities homeowners and have proudly served the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro for more than a decade.

To learn more about our services or schedule an appointment, call us today at 651-319-9777 or request a free quote online, and we’ll get in touch!