If you have hay fever, summer can be miserable. And staying indoors won’t necessarily help. In fact, poor air quality at home and dusty surfaces can exacerbate symptoms.
But there are practical steps you can take to help reduce hay fever symptoms and improve the air quality in your home. Here’s what to do.
1. Get a HEPA-grade filter vacuum or robot vacuum
If you have hay fever, you should get a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter, as it will be good enough to suck up and hold any pollen that has spilled onto your floors.
HEPA filters should trap 99.95-99.97% of particles 3 micrometers or larger. Not only is it a very high level of dust removal, which will remove dust mites from your mattress, but a HEPA filter will trap the dust it collects and prevent it from being released into the look of your home.
To see which vacuums with HEPA filters we recommend, check out our roundup of the best vacuums we’ve tested.
Keep in mind, however, that if you choose a bagless vacuum, you will release some of the dirt and dust you just captured into your living space. Ideally, if you’re using a bagless cleaner, you should empty it into an outdoor trash can, but for most people that’s just not realistic.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
If you have hay fever or are allergic to dust, bagged vacuums are the best option. They make a big difference in trapping dust and keeping it locked away once it’s collected.
A budget bagged option is the Halo pod, which we’ve reviewed and rated as one of the best we’ve tested. If you can spend more, there’s another option in the form of the Samsung Bespoke Jet (read our review).
The Bespoke Jet is a bagless vacuum, but it sits and charges in a self-emptying bagged dock, which vacuums the vacuum – and thus turns it into a bagged system. You only need to change the bag in the dock once a month (approximately) and that means you don’t have to deal with dust at all.
Running a robot vacuum daily is another good way to minimize the amount of dust in the air. Ideally, schedule it to make its rounds when you’re away from home, so you’re not affected by pollen and debris being kicked up. By the time you get home, any remaining dust will have literally settled.
Like vacuum cleaners, many robot vacuums have HEPA filters, so be aware of that on the feature list when buying.
You can now also buy self-emptying robot vacuums, which will also empty into a dock. You see quite a few of these in our roundup of recommended robot vacuums.
2. Vacuum your upholstery
Fabrics, rugs, sofas, pillows and mattresses can become deposits of pet hair, pollen, dust and dander. It’s time to clean them up.
Keep in mind that any cleaning you do will initially make hay fever symptoms worse. Wear a mask or, better yet, have someone else help you with all tasks involving dust management.
People who are very sensitive to dust can buy anti-mite mattress covers. If you don’t think you need to cover your entire mattress, you can buy hypoallergenic pillow protectors that protect against mold, dust mites and more.
For everyone else, a thorough cleaning of all your upholstery should make a big difference to the air quality in your home. Your bed is where you spend the most time, so start there. Strip your bed and vacuum your mattress and pillows.
Curtains should be taken down and put in the washing machine. Then go to your living room and vacuum the cushions of your sofa and armchairs. This brings us to our next tip.
3. Clean the filters of your devices
Most of your devices have filters to trap dust and lint. Once they’re gummed up, they’ll also be less effective at pulling dust and dirt out of the air and surfaces around your home.
Start with your vacuum. Empty the bag if there is one and clean the filter. Newer vacuums may have dust cups that can be completely removed and washed under the tap.
Then check the filters in your clothes dryerany radiators, Fans, air conditioners or existing air purifiers. All of these devices can help clean the air in your home.
And while you’re at it, you can clean the fans your computer. You know you need it.
We saved the most difficult but most important task for last: cleaning your extractor hood. Your kitchen is the source of many air pollutants in the home, and you’ll be surprised how much cooking affects the air quality in your home. A clean exhaust fan can make a big difference.
(If you didn’t know that exhaust fans needed regular cleaning, then you’re in for a special time.)
4. Learn about your air quality
Make a habit of checking pollen counts and outdoor air quality when you first wake up. This will give you an idea of whether or not it’s a good day to open the windows.
But that’s only half the story. Knowing the air quality in your home is even more important. To learn more about the type of pollutants present in your air at home, consult our dedicated explainer.
Once you have a good idea of the air quality in your home, you can take steps to improve it.
You can buy a dedicated monitor, but if you suffer from hay fever, you might as well get a device that will clean your air at the same time.
5. Invest in an air purifier
An air purifier will draw air through a filter and then circulate the purified air through your living space. It’s not the cheapest option, because not only do you have to run the purifier regularly – and certainly throughout the days you have bad hay fever symptoms – which will cost you in terms of electricity , but you will also need to replace the filters.
Typically, these should be replaced every six months. Some types of filters are washable, but carbon filters, which capture odors and gases from cleaning products, cosmetics and the like, will become saturated over time and ineffective. There is no choice but to replace them.
When buying an air purifier, make sure it’s the right size for the room you want to use it in. Air purifiers have different Clean Air Delivery Rates (CADR), so if you use one that is too small in a large room, it won’t have any effect on air quality.
We’ve got all the information you need to buy an air purifier, plus all the products we recommend, in our roundup of the best air purifiers we’ve tested.
Dyson
6. Adopt good ventilation habits
The final step to easing your hay fever symptoms is to keep the air in your home clean. This means being more aware of air quality and changing your habits to protect it.
We’ve discussed why you should do this above, but the bottom line is: the exhaust fan is there for a reason. Turn it on, not only when cooking, but also when using cleaning products.
Cleaning: do not mix products and do not use sprays
Cleaning products that are safe on their own can become dangerous when combined. Most people know that if you mix bleach and ammonia (for example, bleach and toilet cleaner), you can create toxic chloramine gases. But did you know that bleach and vinegar is another combination to avoid? Mix the two and you will get poisonous chlorine gas.
Even products that are safe to use can have a negative effect if you breathe them in. This is why it is recommended to avoid cleaning sprays and use liquids instead. Long-term use of aerosol cleaners is associated with an increased incidence of asthma and other new-onset respiratory problems; Regularly breathing bleach is associated with lung disease.
Don’t overdose on scented stuff
Plug-in air fresheners and scented candles – especially those based on paraffin – release chemicals into the air when they heat up, which can affect your breathing.
It’s not just the ingredients that make them up that are problematic. For example, limonene, which is used to create citrus scents, can produce formaldehyde when burned.
Are there enough of these pollutants to cause real harm? The British Lung Foundation says candles, when used occasionally, “probably pose no health risk”, but the general advice is not to burn them every day and only in well-ventilated rooms. Frankincense should be used even more sparingly, as there is strong evidence linking its use to lung disease.
Thinking of buying an air purifier? Here are the best air purifiers we’ve tested.
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