Experts have said this year will be a particularly bad allergy season. And if you're an allergy sufferer who already dreads this time of year, that's terrible news. It's hard enough to manage your allergies on an ordinary spring day, but now that it's even worse? Your go-to strategies may not cover it all. Not sure what else you can do to reduce allergy symptoms? To make your house more pollen-free? Read-on to find our tips and tricks for keeping your sinuses clear this spring.

How to Manage Your Allergies With Lifestyle Factors

You can't prevent allergies 100%, no matter how many of the following tips you follow. None of them are foolproof, nor are they all available to everyone. But they are tools you can add to your allergy management toolbox. Whether they reduce your symptoms, reduce the dosage of allergy meds you have to take, or put off your allergies for a few days, take a look at the following suggestions.

1. Find Local Honey

You may be thinking, what does honey have to do with my allergies? Well, many allergies are due to pollen (of some sort or another), and honey is made by bees. Bees feed off of pollen, and particles of pollen get processed into their honey. Kind of like a vaccine, these honey pollen particles can reduce or even prevent your response to allergens. But it has to be local honey - as pollen is different everywhere, you go. You may be able to find it in some grocery stores, but your best bet is to find a farmers market. Ideally, the honey will be from the town you live in. But if it's within a twenty-mile radius, you should be fine as well. Bees are good travellers, so even if the farm is 20 miles away, the bees will be able to reach your neighbourhood. For the best results, you'll need to take about a teaspoon of local honey every day. You can add it to your coffee in the morning, or take it in hot water before bed. Make it a habit so that by the time allergies come around, you've been preparing yourself for months!

2. Change into House Clothes

During the peak pollen season, which you'll likely see through the evidence on your car and windows, pollen gets on your clothes. Even if you've only gone from your car to your work, and back to your home, that pollen is everywhere. To keep it from getting into the air in your house (as much as possible), change clothes as soon as you get home. Take off your shoes, go upstairs, and put your outside clothes in the dirty clothes bin. Yes, this may create more laundry for a while, but you want the indoors to be a sanctuary from your allergies - not a mini exposure environment. This will really help you manage your allergies.

3. Take Showers Often

Pollen doesn't only get on your clothes; it gets in your hair and on your skin. That pollen can easily transfer to your pillowcase and bed linens if you're not showering every day. Now, we're not recommending that you wash your hair with shampoo daily (that's too drying), but you should rinse off for 3-5 minutes on non-shower days before you go to bed. Pollen is water-soluble, so rinsing your hair and skin with water is enough to remove it and send it down the drain.

4. Take a Tumeric Supplement

Part of the discomfort you get from allergies is from inflammation. Your body sees the pollen molecules as threats and revs up your immune system to attack them. That process causes inflammation, or swelling, which you likely feel in the form of sinus pressure and a sore throat. Tumeric is an organic herbal supplement that's been scientifically proven to reduce inflammation in the body. It's a building effect, which means you should make it part of your daily routine. As far as supplements go, it's rather affordable and can even reduce other inflammation-related symptoms, like joint pain and IBS. People who practice herbal medicine swear by it and western science is starting to recommend it as well. When you look for a turmeric supplement, make sure it has black pepper in the formulation. The black pepper makes your body more receptive to the tumeric, giving it a better chance at taking effect and reducing inflammation in your body.

5. Stay Inside More

We know that this isn't what you want to hear. But staying indoors as much as possible during allergy season is the smart thing to do. If fumes from a certain chemical were making you sick, you wouldn't purposefully expose yourself to that chemical, right? You'd stay away. If you have to go outside, follow the tips above to reduce the amount of pollen you bring back inside with you. The season will be over soon, and you'll be able to go back out and enjoy the sunshine!

6. Save Money on Allergy Meds

If you have to take allergy medications every day for a month or more, that can start to impact your finances. American companies are known for having extremely high and unfair prices, and right now, that's the unfortunate truth. But you don't have to pay those high prices! You can legally and conveniently order your allergy medications from online Canadian pharmacies. You'll get access to socialized medicine prices, without leaving your house!

Allergy Relief, Finally

We hope that the tips to manage your allergies above give you some relief this spring season. Remember that it's all temporary, and you'll be able to breathe through both nostrils before you know it! To find out more about ordering affordable allergy meds online, click here to for a full list of available products.