(Health.com) - Each year, the sick sneezing swears: "This is the worst allergy season ever." And they are right.
"Levels of pollen growth, the pollen seasons are longer and more people are developing allergies," says Estelle Levetin, Ph.D., President of the Aerobiology Committee of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
In fact, this fall allergies (which affects at least 12 million Americans) will probably last up to 27 days longer than the average in the northernmost parts of North America, even going in November, in some places , according to new research.
Although spring and fall allergies cause the same symptoms (sneezing, itchy eyes and runny nose), their causes are different.
Spring allergies, ranging from February to late July, are brought pollen from trees, grasses and weeds. Fall Allergies to go in mid-August with the first autumn frosts, and are mostly set off by pollen from ragweed plant mites, mold and dust.
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Read on to know what makes two seasons so unbearable and the best ways to survive.
The seasons are more
Spring allergies are now begin as soon as possible and no later than the end of fall allergies, thanks to global warming, said Jeffrey G. Demain, MD, Director of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Center of Alaska.
We are using more and more fossil fuels, produce greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide for example), which absorb the sun's heat by our atmosphere. This brings temperatures, plants and trees and flowers pushing pollen earlier in the autumn spring, delaying the death of ragweed plants from frost, to extend the pollen season Levetin said.
Bottom line: "Autumn" Allergies can move almost in winter.
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There are more pollen than ever
Higher amounts of carbon dioxide not only begin to produce pollen, they also increase the amount of pollen per plant also generates - especially in urban areas, where gas is more abundant.
To add insult to injury, the CO2 will make pollen more powerful, too. "There's more to the allergen in each grain now that used to be," Demain said.
And pollen is not the only allergen in March. Increasingly mild temperatures mean more moisture in the air, creating mold. "Rising temperatures and gas can increase not only the growth of mold, but also the production of spores that is the way it distributes the allergen, both inside and outside," Demain said.
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More people develop allergies
The number of Americans with allergies are two to five times higher today than it was 30 years ago, according to research from the National Institutes of Health. Genes play a role in your sensitivity, but an allergy boom successful is probably due to the pollen seasons longer and more intense - and theories of expert support:
We are too clean. Now that we are less exposed to dirt and bacteria (in part due to our obsession with all antibacterial), and fewer diseases such as polio and to fight parasites, our immune systems are faster to overreact to harmless substances such pollen contrary, Levetin said.
It is also our dirty environment: Studies show that pollution (such as exhaust gases) can trigger an allergic flare-ups.
Our modern diet hurt us. Now a lack of hard fibers preserved plants and the grain of our ancestors appreciated, throwing the delicate balance of bacteria in our guts and we have put in place for the allergic sensitivity, said the University of Michigan professor of internal medicine Gary Huffnagle, PhD.
Studies also show that the use of antibiotics - which also interfere with the bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract - harvest, so you have allergies.
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The good news: although now we are more inclined to sniffling, sneezing and itchy eyes, "there are many more treatment options on the market today," said Levetin. "Medications are much better today than it once was."
A powerful blend of non-sedating antihistamines, steroid sprays and eye drops help the symptoms intensified focus today. In the end, only to return to nature, jumping off the sanitizer from time to time and eat together, fresh foods, may simply be a crucial defense against, well, nature.
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