How to Fight and Avoid Common Holiday Allergies

With the year already more than half gone, the holidays are fast approaching, and that means additional allergies for many people.  Although hay fever has flown with the summer winds, your busy schedule of working, shopping, and preparing Christmas Stockings to entertain family and friends may leave you with little time to tend to your allergy symptoms, not to mention feeling under the weather.  And then there is the inevitable sneezing and stuffiness that comes with unpacking dusty boxes of ornaments that have been in the attic all year, along with dead pine needles that exacerbate your already inflamed sinuses.  Overall, the holidays can be one of the worst times of year for your sensitive sniffer, and you don’t want it stuffed up when you should be busy inhaling the scents of the season (gingerbread, peppermint, and roasted turkey dinner).  But there are plenty of ways to keep your sinuses and your stress-level in check throughout the holiday season.

The best course of action is to be prepared.  Stock up on any medications you might have set aside after spring and summer allergy season so that flare up can be quickly treated.  And if you’re one of the many people who haven’t discovered the joys of a hepa-filtered air purifier, check them out as soon as possible!  Beyond that, you can arm yourself for the many tasks that may cause your allergy symptoms to rear their ugly head.  For example, if you know that dust is going to be an issue, simply go to the hardware or medical supply store and purchase some simple white masks.  They should keep the majority of the dust out of your mouth and nose so that you don’t end up spackling your fragile ornaments with explosive sneezes.

As for the Christmas tree, you can certainly pop antihistamines day and night if a fresh tree is an absolute necessity for holiday cheer.  But why not start a new tradition by opting instead for a fake?  A good one will cost you a few greenbacks, but consider the fact that you will never again have to buy a live tree and you’ll realize that it will soon pay for itself.  You’ll be stopping deforestation even while you ensure a healthy and carefree holiday for yourself.  That seems to be a lot more in keeping with the season than suffering for the sake of tradition.  Plus, they are pretty easy to unpack, assemble, repack, and store.  And you can even get ones that already have lights perfectly arrayed on their ample branches (no more bare patches).  Once you make the switch, you may wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

Stress may also contribute to a resurfacing of your allergy symptoms, so try to relax by getting your shopping done early.  Then you’ll have plenty of time to clean the house for impending visitors (not to mention remove the dust that is your mortal enemy), spend time with your family, baking cookies that you can actually smell, and sing carols without stuffy sinuses making you tone-deaf.  All in all, careful planning can save you a lot of heart ache (and headache) and make your holidays memorable (in all the right ways).

Sarah writes for ChristmasSongs.net, your comprehensive resource for the best in holiday music.