It’s allergy season, which means millions of Americans are stocking up on antihistamines and other remedies to help them deal with stuffy noses, itching, sneezing and watery eyes.
As many as 40% of people suffer from some types of allergic condition, and the number is expected to rise. As air pollution increases and climate change causes rising temperatures, allergy levels are expected to propel to epidemic proportions, leading to increased medical costs, lower productivity in the workplace and a lower quality of life for people with allergic conditions. Already, allergies costs Americans over $3 billion per year in sick days from work, doctor visits and medications.
Luckily, chiropractic care has an alternative — a drug-free approach to managing and treating allergy symptoms.
First, let’s understand what allergies are and how they affect the body. When your immune system meets an irritant it believes is harmful, it attacks it in an effort to protect your health. That’s an important, vital response for germs and bacteria, but what if the irritant isn’t actually dangerous?
The five most common allergens are…common! Weeds, mold, grass, dust mites and pollen cause the most allergic reactions in the United States, and these elements are everywhere, especially during spring.
When one of these irritants is touched, eaten or inhaled by someone with an allergic condition, the body releases histamines. These compounds lower blood pressure, dilate blood vessels and fill the space between blood vessels with fluid. This inflammatory response can make you miserable, causing itching, vomiting, nausea, sneezing and watery eyes. And when it spreads across your entire body, the response can be fatal.
Stress + Allergies
Allergies are still a mystery in some ways to the medical community, but we do know that stress plays a role in allergic conditions. A large body of evidence tells us that the immune and nervous systems are linked, and that allergies and stress cause similar responses. In fact, high levels of stress can exacerbate the immune system’s response to allergens.
Chiropractic Care in Vancouver Can Help
If you’re suffering from allergies, chiropractic care can help. Here’s how:
Strengthening the immune system.
When the spine is misaligned, the brain cannot communicate as well with the rest of your body. When we manipulate soft tissue and joints, we can restore the alignment of your body and repair the pathways of communication between your spine and brain.
Supporting the respiratory system.
In the same way, we can restore the flow from your brain to your respiratory system, strengthening it to better deal with allergic attacks.
Regulating cortisol.
Weakened adrenal glands can make it more difficult for your body to moderate an allergic reaction. Properly aligning the spine can help regulate cortisol, the stress hormone released by the adrenal glands. Controlling the stress response can help relieve allergy symptoms.
If you can’t stop itching, sneezing or sniffling this allergy season, contact us today for an appointment and to discover drug-free allergy treatments that can help!
