Spring allergies are back. Here's how to check pollen levels and keep from sneezing
ATLANTA (AP) — Allergy season can be miserable for tens of millions of Americans when trees, grass, and other pollens cause runny noses, itchy eyes, coughing and sneezing.
Where you live, what you're allergic to and your lifestyle can make a big difference when it comes to the severity of your allergies. Experts say climate change is leading to longer and more intense allergy seasons, but also point out that treatments for seasonal allergies have become more effective over the last decade.
Here are some tips from experts to keep allergy symptoms at bay — maybe even enough to allow you to enjoy the outdoors.
Where are pollen levels the worst this year?
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America issues an annual ranking of the most challenging cities to live in if you have allergies, based on over-the-counter medicine use, pollen counts and the number of available allergy specialists.
This year, the top five cities are: Wichita, Kansas; New Orleans; Oklahoma City; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Memphis.
Which pollens cause allergies?
There are three main types of pollen. Earlier in the spring, tree pollen is the main culprit. After that grasses pollinate, followed by weeds in the late summer and early fall.
Some of the most common tree pollens that cause allergies include birch, cedar, cottonwood, maple, elm, oak and walnut, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Grasses that cause symptoms include Bermuda, Johnson, rye and Kentucky bluegrass.
How do I track pollen levels?
Pollen trackers can help you decide when to go outside. The American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology tracks levels through a network of counting stations across the U.S. Counts are available at its website and via email.
Limit your exposure to pollens
The best and first step to controlling allergies is avoiding exposure. Keep the windows in your car and your home closed, even when it's nice outside.
If you go outside, wearing long sleeves can keep pollen off your skin to help ward off allergic reactions, said Dr. James Baker, an allergist at the University of Michigan. It also provides some sun protection, he added.
When you get home, change your clothes and shower daily to ensure all the pollen is off of you — including your hair. If you can't wash your hair every day, try covering it when you go outside with a hat or scarf. Don't get in the bed with your outside clothes on, because the pollen will follow.
It's also useful to rinse your eyes and nose with saline to remove any pollen, experts said. And the same masks that got us through the pandemic can protect you from allergies — though they won't help with eye symptoms.
How to relieve allergy symptoms
Over-the-counter nasal sprays are among the most effective treatments for seasonal allergies, experts said.
But the vast majority of patients use them incorrectly, irritating parts of the nose, said Dr. Kathleen Mays, an allergist at Augusta University in Georgia. She suggested angling the nozzle outward toward your ear rather than sticking it straight up your nose.
Over-the-counter allergy pills like Claritin, Allegra and Zyrtec are helpful, but may not be as effective as quickly since they're taken by mouth, experts said.
Experts also said that if your allergy symptoms are impacting your quality of life, like causing you to lose sleep or a lack focus at work or school, it might be time to consider an allergist appointment for immunotherapies.
Some remedies for allergy relief that have been circulating on social media or suggested by celebrities — like incorporating local honey into your diet to expose yourself to pollen — have been debunked.
Dr. Shayam Joshi, an allergist at Oregon Health and Science University, said that's because the flowers that bees pollinate typically don't contain the airborne pollen that causes allergy symptoms.
Is allergy season changing?
With climate change, winters are milder and growing seasons are longer, meaning there's more opportunity for pollen to stay in the air, resulting in longer and more severe allergy seasons.
In many areas across the country, pollen counts have broken decades of records. In late March, the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Center measured a pollen count of over 14,000 grains per cubic meter, which is considered extremely high.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


San Francisco Chronicle
38 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
New York lawmakers approve bill that would allow medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Terminally ill New Yorkers would have the legal ability to end their own lives with pharmaceutical drugs under a bill passed Monday in the state Legislature. The proposal, which now moves to the governor's office, would allow a person with an incurable illness to be prescribed life-ending drugs if he or she requests the medication and gets approval from two physicians. A spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would review the legislation. The New York Senate gave final approval to the bill Monday night after hours of debate during which supporters said it would let terminally ill people die on their own terms. 'It's not about hastening death, but ending suffering,' said state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat who sponsored the proposal. Opponents have argued the state should instead improve end-of-life medical care or have objected on religious grounds. 'We should not be in the business of state-authorized suicide,' said state Sen. George Borrello, a Republican. The state Assembly passed the measure in late April. The proposal requires that a terminally ill person who is expected to die within six month make a written request for the drugs. Two witnesses would have sign the request to ensure that the patient is not being coerced. The request would then have to be approved by the person's attending physician as well as a consulting physician. The legislation was first introduced in 2016, Hoylman-Sigal said, though it has stalled year after year in the New York statehouse. Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, which has opposed the measure, said 'This is a dark day for New York State." Eleven other states and Washington, D.C., have laws allowing medically assisted suicide, according to Compassion & Choices, an advocacy organization that backs the policy. Corinne Carey, the group's local campaign director, said lawmakers had 'recognized how important it is to give terminally ill New Yorkers the autonomy they deserve over their own end-of-life experiences.'
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
New York lawmakers approve bill that would allow medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Terminally ill New Yorkers would have the legal ability to end their own lives with pharmaceutical drugs under a bill passed Monday in the state Legislature. The proposal, which now moves to the governor's office, would allow a person with an incurable illness to be prescribed life-ending drugs if he or she requests the medication and gets approval from two physicians. A spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would review the legislation. The New York Senate gave final approval to the bill Monday night after hours of debate during which supporters said it would let terminally ill people die on their own terms. 'It's not about hastening death, but ending suffering,' said state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat who sponsored the proposal. Opponents have argued the state should instead improve end-of-life medical care or have objected on religious grounds. 'We should not be in the business of state-authorized suicide,' said state Sen. George Borrello, a Republican. The state Assembly passed the measure in late April. The proposal requires that a terminally ill person who is expected to die within six month make a written request for the drugs. Two witnesses would have sign the request to ensure that the patient is not being coerced. The request would then have to be approved by the person's attending physician as well as a consulting physician. The legislation was first introduced in 2016, Hoylman-Sigal said, though it has stalled year after year in the New York statehouse. Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, which has opposed the measure, said 'This is a dark day for New York State." Eleven other states and Washington, D.C., have laws allowing medically assisted suicide, according to Compassion & Choices, an advocacy organization that backs the policy. Corinne Carey, the group's local campaign director, said lawmakers had 'recognized how important it is to give terminally ill New Yorkers the autonomy they deserve over their own end-of-life experiences.' 'The option of medical aid in dying provides comfort, allowing those who are dying to live their time more fully and peacefully until the end,' said Carey.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Collins calls Kennedy's firing of vaccine experts ‘excessive'
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Monday called Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s firing of all 17 experts on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) vaccine panel 'excessive,' but she cautioned she needs to learn more about the decision. Kennedy announced the decision in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, catching many GOP lawmakers by surprise. 'I did not know that that had happened,' Collins, a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said. 'It seems to me to be excessive to ask for everybody's resignations, but I can't judge because I don't know who he's replacing them with.' The Maine senator said the CDC's vaccine advisory committee 'provided helpful guidance to the public on what they should do.' Collins said that Kennedy didn't promise members of the HELP Committee that he would keep the vaccine experts in place. 'I'm just learning about it for the first time,' she said. 'I don't know what the basis was.' Kennedy said in his Wall Street Journal column that he removed the experts so that President Trump could shape the membership of the committee. 'Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,' he wrote. Kennedy argued that vaccines have become 'a divisive issue in American politics' and that public confidence is waning' in health agencies, pharmaceutical companies and vaccines themselves. 'That is why, under my direction, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is putting the restoration of public trust above any pro- or antivaccine agenda. The public must know that unbiased science guides the recommendations from our health agencies. This will ensure the American people receive the safest vaccines possible,' he wrote. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) in a statement blasted Kennedy's move as 'reckless.' 'RFK Jr. and the Trump administration are taking a wrecking ball to the programs that keep Americans safe and healthy. Firing experts that have spent their entire lives protecting kids from deadly disease is not reform — it's reckless, radical, and rooted in conspiracy, not science,' Schumer said in a statement. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.