Every summer, ragweed pollen fills the air, causing runny noses and sneezing in people with ragweed allergies.
Climate change is now making seasonal allergies more severe and causing them to last longer.
Warmer temperatures and higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can cause certain plants to produce more pollen, worsening symptoms.
As winters get shorter, plants can start producing pollen earlier in the spring and continue producing pollen later in the fall.
In some parts of North America, that means allergy season now lasts more than three weeks than before.
Porter: “If you have respiratory allergies, staying even one extra day can be miserable.”
Teddy Porter is a professor of nursing and director of the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice at the University of Minnesota.
Allergies can lead to a range of health effects, from poor sleep to increased anxiety, reducing overall quality of life, she said.
Therefore, Porter recommends that people pay attention to daily pollen counts and talk to a health care provider for advice on medications and how to relieve symptoms.
Porter: “Really working with health professionals to say: How do I get through this season? So what do I do?
Report source: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
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