50% more people have hay fever this year

I think you’ll all agree, this year has been an incredible summer so far. I love England in the sun, it’s like being on holiday and the feeling of the sun warming the skin is one of my favourite things. But if that warm, dry weather brings with it clouds of pollen, spring and summer can be miserable for those who have hay fever.

I’ve noticed that just in my circle of friends and allergy community many of us have seen a worsening in symptoms, terrible hay fever and also loads of people getting it for either the first time or the first time in years.

A recent study revealed that there has indeed been quite a staggering rise.

Read ‘Spike in summer hay fever cases’,

The article begins by stating that, “Hay fever cases in England have reached their highest level so far this year, and are just under 50% higher compared to this time in 2016, the latest weekly figures from the Royal College of General Practitioners’ Research and Surveillance Centre show.”

That’s a 230% increase… but what’s the reason?

  1. Warmer drier weather for the seasons means more pollen
  2. Hay fever seasons seem to be extending, trees pollinate more for longer
  3. Very little rain to soak up the pollen – so it’s dry and stays on the surface to blow around
  4. More city landscaping, trapping pollen on hard surfaces
  5. Trends toward more decking and hard floors in gardens – pollen is absorbed into soil
  6. Council planting strategies favour high pollen trees over fruiting (less mess to clear up)
  7. Five year trends do see spikes in symptom cycles like this
  8. And I could go on…

I plan to produce a blog about why this is happening shortly, the article above, whilst intetesting, doesn’t offer any insight into why this phenomon is occuring. If you’re like me, you want answers, you want to understand why, so you can at least reassure yourself you’re not to blame. Your super immune system is just over reacting again in a quite spectacular way. It’s being quite clever really so do be proud of your body. It’s trying to help you out, it’s just failing rather miserably to do so…

I learnt loads about this last year when I was on Country File Diaries in a hay fever special. You can read the top 20 things I learnt here in 20 things you can do to reduce your hay fever...

So there could be many factors, leaving us still with no real cure or treatment. Anti histamines and sprays and eye drops do help but they only take the edge off the symptoms.

For more help, tips and ideas to help you reduce your symptoms, please read my other hay fever blogs here.
For those who crave an active outdoor lifestyle it’s time to man up and get out there. Go prepared and take whatever precautions you can because this super pollen is nasty and it’s out to get you!

Please also listen to me on 5 Live talking to Sam Walker and Chris Warburton on Sunday Breakfast about this very phenomenon.

Has your hay fever been worse? or have you or your child just got it for the first time this year?

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