Fast fixes for allergy symptoms

Tame your worst pollen-triggered symptoms with these fast-acting remedies

ITCHY EYES? Wash your lashes

Gently sudsing your eyelids, brows and lashes with warm water and baby shampoo twice daily can cut eye redness, itching and watering by 90%, say researchers at Brooklyn’s Long Island Hospital. Lid washings remove sticky pollen before it can get into the mucous membranes of your eyes as you blink and rub, and warm water opens tiny eyelid glands

(meibomian), prompting them to release a protective layer of oils that shield the surface of your eyes from pollen attacks.

FOGGY? Rethink your bedtime routine

It’s not just you: 75% of allergy sufferers wake up foggy. “Production of hormones (cytokines) that worsen allergy symptoms peaks between 4 and 5 AM—and that spike taxes your nervous system, triggering mental sluggishness,” says endocrinologist Nick Petrovsky, M.D. An easy Rx: Take once-daily allergy supplements/medications at bedtime (or if you take more than one dose, take your last pill at bedtime). Texas scientists say the timing trick blocks predawn cytokine spikes, boosting focus and energy for 94% of women in 48 hours.

SORE THROAT? Sprinkle flax into salads & smoothies

Adding 2 Tbs. of flaxseeds (or ground flax) to your daily diet could cut scratchy sore throat symptoms by 50%. Explains Fred Pescatore, M.D., author of The Allergy & Asthma Cure, flax brims with a compound—alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)—that calms the immune cells lining your throat, soothing painful inflammation and reducing the production of symptom-triggering histamine. Try sprinkling whole flaxseeds on cereal, salads or yogurt, or mix ground flax into smoothies, spaghetti sauce and burgers.

CAN’T STOP SNEEZING? Stir this in

Taking 2,000 mg. (or 1 tsp.) of spirulina—a blue-green algae supplement—daily could cut your runny nose and sneezing by as much as 70%, report researchers in the journal ISRN Allergy. Thanks goes to compounds (carotenoids) that tamp down your production of a key symptom trigger (IgE). Try: Hawaiian Spirulina, certified free of contaminants sometimes found in lower-quality imports.

STUFFY NOSE? Rinse with rosemary

Using a sinus-cleansing neti pot twice daily—and adding rosemary oil to the saline—eases congestion in 5 minutes and cuts spring allergy symptoms by 70%, Italian researchers say. Sinus rinses flush out pollen before your immune system can react, and antiinflammatory rosemary oil provides right-now relief. To do: Combine 4 cups of distilled water with 1 Tbs. of kosher salt, 1 tsp. of baking soda and 1 drop of rosemary oil. Mix well, then follow the neti pot instructions.

TOSS & TURN? Shower at night

For spring allergy sufferers, trouble breathing can triple the risk of sleepless nights and nextday fatigue. Good news: UCLA researchers say you’ll sleep 55% more deeply if you have a bedtime shower or bath—and scrub your hair to remove pollen. This relaxing ritual reduces levels of the sleepsabotaging stress hormone cortisol, and washing off pollen prevents nighttime spikes in histamine—the hormone that makes eye itching and congestion flare.