Allergies Got You Down? 5 Ways Water Can Help.
New York City is incredibly beautiful in the spring but for those of us who suffer from seasonal allergies, it’s hard not to look at the city like a pollen-coated wonderland. The rain often signals a reprieve for the allergy ridden among us, but did you ever stop to think about the ways that the water straight from your tap can be your partner in the war against pollen?
Stay Hydrated
Staying hydrated is pretty solid everyday advice but is even more crucial when you’re contending with a nose and throat that are producing mucus on overdrive. Drinking more water helps to thin out the mucus and help to make your constant coughing, sneezing, and nose blowing more productive.
Rinse Well
Since you probably have to leave the house sometime (you do leave, don’t you?), you know that even a quick trip to your local bodega will expose you to the elements. We’re primarily afflicted with tree pollen here in the city, you know the kind that blows in the wind and seems to fall from the sky. At the end of the day, you are probably COVERED in pollen. Before you get in bed, take a shower — your sinuses will thank you.
Neti Pot to the Rescue
I don’t know if you’ve taken a look inside your nose lately, but there’s some hair up there. That hair is pretty darn useful, but as good of a job as it does of keeping foreign particles from getting all the way in your nasal cavity, it doesn’t catch everything. A Neti pot, or any other nasal irrigation system can help moisten dry sinuses and flush pollen and other pollutants from yourr nasal cavity. Plus, it’s pretty fun to drain saline from one nostril to the other.
Drink Your Tea…With Honey
My mother believes that a cup of tea offers a cure for nearly anything. Sore throat? Sure. Headache? Ok. Stubbed a toe? C’mon Now! But in the case of allergies, Mom may be on to something. Common tea inclusions like peppermint and eucalyptus can help soothe and clear clogged nasal passages and ingredients like rooibos, nettle and rose hips all have histamine-blocking properties. Die hard allergy sufferers insist that ingesting local honey helps to build an immunity to your local pollen. Though a study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology debunked this claim, a little tea with honey never hurt anyone.
Drink This. I Dare You.
Red onion water — red onions cut into rings and immersed in water — is not a remedy that I have tried, but since red onions contain the histamine-alleviating compound Quercetin, it follows that drinking a gigantic cup of red onion-infused H2O may help ease your allergy symptoms. The recipe calls for the addition of local honey to taste so I’ll let you, dear reader, try this one. Please report back.
You may not beat allergy season this year but with these liquid remedies you can be on the path to relief in no time. What is your best allergy fighting solution?
