Seasonal allergies, known medically as hay fever, is a widespread condition affecting 19.2 million American adults. Caused by your body’s reaction to pollens, molds and dust mites, hay fever can weaken your body’s immune system and exacerbate asthma symptoms, in addition to causing you to experience cold-like symptoms.
If you think your allergies have been worse these last few years, you’re not alone. According to scientists, climate change has made the pollen season in North America worse.
What Is Hay Fever?
Allergies occur when your immune system misidentifies a harmless substance as a threat and attacks it. In order to fight off the intruder, your body produces antibodies, which cause your body to release chemicals into your bloodstream. One of these chemicals is histamine, which is responsible for many of your allergy symptoms.
Causes of hay fever include dust mites, mold spores and pollens from trees, grasses and ragweed, all of which you can come into contact with when on a walk at Mission Bay Park. Symptoms include:
- Runny nose.
- Nasal congestion.
- Watery, itchy eyes.
- Sneezing.
- Coughing.
- Itchy nose, throat and roof of mouth.
- Swollen skin under the eyes.
- Postnasal drip.
- Fatigue.
Climate Change Study
Researchers studied three decades worth of data to determine that the pollen seasons are getting longer and more intense. They looked at the metrics from 1990 to 2018 at 60 monitoring sites across North America.
They found that pollen seasons were starting 20 days earlier and lasting up to eight days longer. The concentration of pollen also increased by 20.9% between the first and last year of data.
This 2021 report determined that the hardest hit areas were in Texas and the midwestern United States. While the reason for this is unclear, scientists suspect that the plant species in these areas are more sensitive to warming temperatures.
In addition to measuring pollen counts, the researchers also looked at what caused the change. Temperature changes, amount of rainfall, number of frost dates and increase in carbon dioxide concentrations are all results of climate change. They found that an increase in the average annual temperate was the strongest driver for the rise in pollen counts. For information about how to treat hay fever or to learn more about the connection between pollen counts and climate change, contact San Diego ENT to schedule an appointment today.