With the advent of Spring and all the blooming flowers, the Pollen-related allergy season has hit Atlanta, GA again.  Check the article posted below for some helpful tips on significantly reducing your allergy symptoms while at home!

Author:  Linnea Lundgren and Jeff Wald, MD
Date: April 20, 2006
Source:  HowStuffWorks.com

Your home’s comfort systems (air conditioning and heating) can help or hinder your allergen-control efforts. This section will show you how to evaluate these systems and make them as efficient and hypoallergenic as possible.

Check Humidity

Ridding the house of excess moisture helps prevent the spread of mold and decreases the survival rate of dust mites and cockroaches. If you live in an area of high humidity, you might want to invest in a humidity gauge (available at most hardware stores). Humidity in your house should range around 40 percent. Humidity above 50 percent is considered a resort for the dust mites and molds, while a reading below 20 percent might be called the Sahara Desert. Be sure to check humidity readings throughout the house and not just in one room.

If humidity readings hover near the steam-bath level, you can lower moisture in the air with an air conditioner and dehumidifier.

Air-conditioning (AC)

If you’ve ever had the windows fog up while you’re driving, you know that the best way to remove the moisture is to turn on the air conditioning (AC). The same method applies to the house, but only in warm weather. (Who is going to blast cold air when it’s snowing outside?) Despite this weather-sensitive requirement, air conditioning does more than dehumidify the air; it filters out pollen and helps discourage cockroaches, which dislike the airflow. Dust mites and mold, too, hate the cool, dry air.

To maintain the benefits of AC, your unit needs cleaning and regular maintenance. Whether you’ve got central AC or window or wall-mounted units, the filters must be cleaned frequently both for efficiency and to prevent mold growth. Some models can be equipped with electrostatic filters, which rely on static charges created when air passes through the filters, to help capture certain allergens.

Electrostatic filters must be cleaned regularly to maintain their efficiency. If electrostatic filters are unavailable, use regular, or pleated, air-conditioning filters, which work just as well as electrostatic filters in removing 95 percent of all allergens.

To eliminate mold growth in air conditioning ducts, try running the unit for 30 minutes after turning off the cooling to help dry out ducts. Lastly, if you have a recycle switch on your AC, be sure to use it because it recirculates air inside the house. Pollen-allergy sufferers work against their own interest if they continually allow outside air to be pulled inside.

Dehumidifiers

These devices work by cooling the air so that excess humidity condenses into a bucket, which can be emptied. Oftentimes, the heat generated by a dehumidifier can be too much in the summer and is used in conjunction with the air conditioning.

Like its cooler cousin, the air conditioner, dehumidifiers must be cleaned regularly or else mold spores will happily take over.

Enclosed spaces, such as closets, can trap moisture. Dehumidifiers work well here, but for even smaller spaces, such as an armoire or a cabinet, try using a desiccant. These moisture-wicking agents come in several forms, including absorbing flakes and cartridges. Some cartridges can be recycled by drying them in a warm oven. Desiccants also make ideal moisture wickers for camera bags, shoe storage boxes, and other areas where molds and moisture hide. Just be sure to keep the packages or cartridges away from children and pets.

The Heating System

Billowing dust isn’t something you want in your home, yet it’s what happens with forced-air heating, one of the least expensive forms of heating. If your house came with such a system, be sure to clean the filters at least twice a month and cover vents in each room with a fine mesh screen to keep dust particles down. However, don’t bother to have your ducts cleaned. There have been five studies examining the effects of duct cleaning, and none have shown any benefit at all.

Radiant heating (in which heated water is passed through piping underneath the floor) and baseboard heating don’t disturb dust particles as they heat. Radiators, especially those found in older homes, must be cleaned regularly as dust collects behind and underneath them.

If you heat the old-fashioned way, via a woodburning fireplace or coal stove, consider replacing them, as they produce smoke, carbon dioxide, and many other irritating gases. While not as cozy, electric fires won’t produce such gases. Space heaters that burn natural gas, kerosene, or butane all emit harmful gases and should never be considered a heating option in an allergic person’s home or work environment.

Filters

There has been much hoopla about the ability of air filters, particularly HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance) filters, to remove airborne allergens. And now HEPA’s efficacy has been documented in a collaborative study between the University of Colorado and National Jewish Medical and Research Center. The study, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, found that the use of HEPA-filter vacuums and air purifiers in homes reduced the concentration of particles less than 10 microns by almost 50 percent.

If you choose to augment your cleaning process with air filters, be forewarned that they don’t come cheap, and like any other filter, they must be changed regularly. People with allergies who don’t have a forced-air heating/cooling system can purchase freestanding units, which will help keep the bedroom free of airborne allergens, such as pollen and animal dander. Some models come equipped with charcoal filters that help eliminate cigarette odors. When choosing a portable HEPA air filter, note the noise level and the price (between $100 and $500), and be sure to buy a system that’s large enough to clean your room. Place the filter off the floor in the middle of a closed room and away from dusty areas since the unit’s fan sometimes churns up dust particles. Run it constantly or after vacuuming.

Allergy sufferers with forced-air heating/cooling systems may want to invest in a whole-house filter, which attaches to the furnace. There are several kinds of filters, which can be easily affixed to the furnace. Many can be washed and reused. HEPA filters may not be an option; consult a heating and air conditioning contractor.

It’s true that you should use air filters, but you can’t rely on them alone. Use them as part of an all-out campaign to reduce allergens. Relying only on an air filter to remove allergens is like asking dust mites to leave: It doesn’t work.

We’ve looked at a lot of different aspects when it comes to allergy-proofing your home. But what about your home away from home — your office?  Don’t worry. Allergy-proofing your workplace will be discussed in the next section.

How to Allergy-Proof Your Bedroom: Overview and General Tips

The average person spends about eight hours a night in their bedroom. Whether you sleep alone or with a significant other, you always have unwanted company in the form of dust mites, mold spores, and possibly animal dander. Microscopic mites, in particular, love lounging in your bed, your pillows, and your comforter, feasting away on dead skin flakes. You can’t help shedding your skin, but you can put the “No Vacancy” sign out for the mites.

How to Allergy-Proof Your Bedroom: General Tips

Here’s how to make your bedroom inhospitable to allergens:

• Using a damp rag, once a month wipe down the bed frame and other wood or metal parts that are covered with dust.

• Enclose the mattress and box spring in zippered allergen-impermeable, mite-proof covers, which can be purchased at some department stores or through mail-order companies that sell allergy-related products. Make sure the encasing permits perspiration-vapor-transmission: technical talk for “breathability.” A washable mattress pad can go atop the allergen-impermeable coverings for added comfort.
  

  Did You Know?House-dust mites want a warm bedroom, particularly one that’s about 70 degrees Fahrenheit with enough humidity (over 50 percent) to keep them well hydrated.

• Each week, wash all linens in hot water. Wash the mattress pad and blankets every two to four weeks in hot water. Wash the mite-proof encasings as recommended by the manufacturer or every three months.

• Encase pillows in allergen-impermeable covers. If you have synthetic pillows, wash them monthly in very hot water and chuck out any pillows of dubious age or origin.

• Avoid wool blankets and mold-attracting foam-rubber cushions, pillows, and mattresses.

• Encase comforters in allergen-impermeable material.

• Avoid cushioned headboards, billowing canopies, cute ruffles, flowing bed skirts (unless washed regularly with the linen), upholstered furniture, and accent pillows.

• If possible, remove all carpeting. If that’s impossible, low pile is preferable to shag carpeting. Have a non-allergic person vacuum twice weekly. Remove all boxes, old shoes, knickknacks, and junk hidden underneath the bed, all of which collect dust and make regular cleaning more of a chore.
  

  Did You Know?A bed can contain more than 10,000 mites and more than two million fecal particles (the unpleasant stuff that causes allergies). Dust mites are so small that 7,000 can fit on a dime.

• Blinds and heavy curtains help keep daylight out but dust mites in. Try installing window shades instead. If the curtain is not coming down, at least launder it in hot water once a month. The same is true for blinds: If you don’t replace them with shades, take them down and wash them.

• If the bathroom is attached to the bedroom, keep humidity down by closing the bathroom door when you take a shower. Just be sure to keep the bathroom’s exhaust fan running or the window open to allow moisture an easy escape outside.

• Dust mites don’t care if their dander dinner comes from a two-legged or four-legged restaurant. Reduce dander by keeping pets out of the bedroom. Always shut the bedroom door to prevent pets from making a sneaky entrance. Remember, your pet is a walking dust mop and can quickly undermine your best efforts at environmental control.

• Set a schedule for regular cleaning and washing of linens. Then stick to it! Real improvements may not be noticeable for several months because it takes several washings to get rid of the mite infestation. And if you slack off, a whole new crop will move in. Washing linens regularly not only kills dust mites, it also reduces their food source (i.e., dead skin flakes). Washing only kills the adult mites, however, not their larvae. That’s why it’s important to wash linens weekly — every week there’s a new crop of critters.

• Don’t eat in bed. Cockroaches are attracted to food and will join you in the bedroom if that’s where the feast is. If you have roaches, don’t bring food into the bedroom.

• Don’t place your bed over a heating vent because that just invites a dust gathering. Being inaccessible, the vent won’t be cleaned regularly. Dust will develop, and once the heat is turned on after a seasonal recess, a volcanic eruption of dust particles will fly into your mattress.

• Remove candles from the bedroom, especially the scented variety, which can release irritating or harmful substances.

• Keep bookcases away from the bed, or move them out of the bedroom.

Not all bedrooms are created equal, of course. In the next section, we will focus on how to allergy-proof two types of allergen-prone dwellings — a child’s room and a dorm room. Keeping your closet allergen-free is also covered.

Cooking and Freezing Mites Why the need to cook laundry in hot water? Because dust mites love warm temperatures, even warm baths. Warm washing temperatures don’t kill them; they just think it’s a pool party. Only hot, and we mean 130 degrees Fahrenheit/54 degrees Celsius, water does the job. If you have young children at home and want to keep the water heater at a lower setting, take your linens to a commercial laundromat. Call first, though, to make sure the laundromat keeps temperature settings above 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

If cooking your linens will ruin them, consider the opposite strategy: Put them in the freezer for 24 hours and then wash them in warm water. There are no guarantees about the scientific validity of this tactic, however. The deep freeze should kill the mites, but it won’t eliminate their droppings.