Has “The Pollening” impacted your mental health?

Lately, the Triangle has a special yellow-tinged haze to it as the pine trees here release significant amounts of pollen. In addition to the annoyance of it covering our cars and porches, it can impact our bodies in multiple ways and many people even experience a negative impact on their mental health. If you have been feeling more down or anxious lately, you’re not alone and it could be an unexpected result of The Pollening!  

According to Dr. Kara Wada from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, research has supported a link between allergies and negative impacts on mental health. The initial impact on the body can be seen with more traditional allergy symptoms like itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing, etc. These can be miserable to experience for long periods of time, like the pine pollen season here that lasts for weeks. It is possible that the energy your body is expending trying to fight off the allergens is contributing to an overall feeling of fatigue, irritation, and difficulty concentrating. Any disruption in sleep caused by the allergy symptoms would only serve to increase these symptoms as well. 

There may be another plausible cause that is less understood. Allergies cause inflammation in the body and the inflammatory substances released in your body may impact your brain and mental health. Another possible link is related to the medications that we use to treat allergies tend to be sedating or cause excitability, which feels similar to anxiety. Lastly, needing to avoid being outdoors tends to decrease exercise or socialization, which research has shown to play very prominent roles in our quality of life and mental health. 

If you have been experiencing any of these impacts, you can try changing clothes and showering after spending time outdoors, washing bedding and vacuuming more often than normal, getting to bed earlier, talking to a trusted provider about allergy treatments, and having compassion for your body that is needing to work harder and just doesn’t have the energy it normally does right now.