Sleep better during allergy season

Source: Adapted from Sleep to be Sexy, Smart and Slim

Not only does the sheer misery induced by allergy symptoms keep you awake at night, but your body’s immunological response to those allergens disrupts the systems set up to regulate your sleep. So the key to a good night’s sleep is to keep allergens at bay’or, when that’s simply impossible, find a way to minimize your body’s reaction to them. Here’s how to do it.

Make an allergy-fighting plan

Get an ID on the allergens that are driving you crazy, find out when and how they appear, then formulate a battle plan with your doctor. Include everything from reducing contact with the allergen to treating it with medication.

If your allergies aren’t immediately obvious to you and your doctor, ask your doctor for a referral to an allergist in your community. Your allergist will run a series of skin or blood tests to reveal specific allergens.

Wash out your nose

When allergens, dust, and mold enter your nasal passages, they tend to get stuck in the membrane lining those passages. Inflammation sets in, your nose becomes swollen and clogged, and a nasty sinus infection can be the result. Fortunately, however, ‘nasal irrigation, if it is done correctly and gently, can remove allergens, irritants, and inflammatory mucus,’ says William H. Anderson, M.D., a member of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.

To wash out your nasal passages:
‘ Fill a bowl with 2 cups (473 mL) of water that feels as though it’s around body temperature.
‘ Mix in 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt and stir to dissolve. (If you are sensitive to iodine, use non-iodized salt.)
‘ Pick up a small bulb syringe (available from your local drugstore) and squeeze out all the air. Put the narrow end into the saltwater solution and release the bulb to suck up the saltwater into the bulb.
‘ Insert the tip of the syringe into one nostril’no farther than the width of your fingertip’and tilt the syringe tip toward the outer corner of your eye. Gently release the bulb and allow the water to gently squirt into your nose as you continue to lean over the sink.
‘ Let the water drain out of your nostril back into the sink. Don’t be alarmed if it comes out of your other nostril or your mouth. Both nostrils and the back of your mouth are all connected.
‘ Repeat the procedure, switch nostrils, and then wash the second nostril twice.

Use a saline nasal spray

Use saline nasal sprays throughout the day and particularly at night before bed. Avoid daily use of nasal vasoconstricting nose sprays, such as Afrin. If you use them for more than three days, you will become addicted. The nasal passages will swell and obstruct airway passages until the effect wears off’another three days.

Look for the newer antihistamines

Older antihistamines can cause dry mouth or, when sold combined with decongestants, prevent sleep. ‘Newer antihistamines’including loratadine (generic Claritin), fexofenadine (generic Allegra), prescription Zyrtec, and prescription Clarinex don’t interfere with sleep like some of the older ones do,’ says Dr. Anderson. Check with your doctor to see if one of them is right for you.

But forget about taking an OTC decongestant. “Over-the-counter decongestants can cause insomnia, says Dr. Anderson.

Pretreat with a prescription

Since your immune system responds to the allergen with inflammation and that’s what swells shut your nasal passages, prevent the inflammation by using a prescription anti-inflammatory nasal spray, says Dr. Anderson. Brands inlclude Flonase, Nasonex, Veramyst, and Nasacort. All are effective.

Shower with eucalyptus

‘ Sprinkle a half-dozen drops of essential oil of eucalyptus on your wet bath mitt, lather the mitt with an unscented soap, and wash your entire body from top to bottom. By the time you hit your feet, your nose will be breathing freely, your sinuses will be clear, and your throat will feel soothed and moisturized.

‘ For an extra treat after you shampoo, use a few drops of eucalyptus in the final rinse for your hair. Keep it out of your eyes.

‘ To keep pollen out of the bedroom, shower right before bed, use a dryer-dried towel, and don dryer-dried bedclothes.

Hide out when allergens are in the air

Hot, dry, and windy weather can each send dust, pollen, and molds skittering through your windows at home, work, in your car’virtually everywhere. So stay indoors with windows closed when those conditions are present during your allergy season. Schedule shopping and outdoor activities when it’s windless, cloudy, or even rainy. There’s less pollen in the air.

Hire a gardener

Mowing the grass stirs up a textbook’s worth of pollens and molds, and raking leaves does the same thing. Hire a professional to do both’and suggest they wear a mask.

Scald the wash and rinse well

A study at Yonsei University in South Korea looked at what it took to clean dust mites, dog dander and tree pollen’three of the most common allergens’off your sheets.

‘ For dust mites it turns out that cold water killed 5 to 8 percent. Warm water killed 7 to 11 percent. Hot water’60°C or 140°F’killed 100 percent.

‘ For dog dander the results were similar’although nearly all allergens were removed at all wash temperatures when rinsing twice or more.

‘ For tree pollen using hot water was more effective than other temperatures. Rinsing at least once removed tree pollen at all temperatures.

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