Surviving Spring Part 5: Seasonal allergies

Seasonal allergies are one of my favorite things to treat with acupuncture. The results are practically instantaneous and it has a very high success rate for relieving symptoms.

When people voice their skepticism about whether acupuncture could benefit them I immediately suggest they try getting treated during seasonal allergy season (if they are prone to suffering from them). It’ll make them a believer. Because of this, my first suggestion will always be to try acupuncture. However I also want to give you some tools to use at home, so here are the things I most commonly advise this time of year.

• Cut way back on fried, greasy and/or fatty foods. These produce mucus in the body, which is the last thing we want during seasonal allergy season. Read this blog for more dietary suggestions. 

• Steam: Bring a pot of water to a boil and then turn off the heat. Let it partially cool so that the water is still steaming but not overly hot. Pour the water into a bowl, put your face over the bowl and cover your head and bowl with a towel.  Inhale the steam. Add a couple of drops of any of the following essential oils to increase the benefit: tea tree, peppermint, eucalyptus

• Exercise: Moving our body strengthens the lungs and cardiovascular system, reduces  stress and inflammation as well as gets our Qi circulating properly. 

• Acupressure: This video shows some easy to locate acupoints (yingxiang, taiyang and cuan zhu are among my favorite points for this). To increase the efficacy apply a warm compress to the face before doing the acupressure.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Surviving Spring blog series. With it’s big weather shifts and emerging pollen counts this time of year often requires a bit of extra TLC for our bodies. However it’s the perfect opportunity to harness the energy of growth to propel us towards a happy and healthy summer.