Allergic to pollen? 7 tricks to turn your home into a pollen-free zone
19/3/2024
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
Home, sweet home. Now that’s not always what it feels like during the hay fever season. The following tricks should help you breathe freely again at home.
This news isn’t groundbreaking but breathtaking. From March at the latest, the air’s full of pollen. And for around twelve million Germans and roughly two million people in Switzerland, this poses a real problem. This is because they’re allergic to the proteins contained in the pollen particles released by trees and grasses. The symptoms? Swelling, sneezing fits, a runny nose and even asthma in severe cases. My colleague Anna wrote a summary of what affected people can do.
In addition to treating the hay fever, it’s also important to stop the pollen from getting into your home. These 7 tips can help reduce the pollen count indoors.
1. Get airing right
As a rule, you should keep windows and doors closed as much as possible to stop flower particles from getting in. If things do start getting stuffy, briefly airing rooms has proven to be a much better option than leaving your windows ajar for longer periods of time: «Pollen concentrations can be reduced by two thirds through brief bursts of fresh air,» the Technical University of Munich found in an experiment (link in German).
When to air your home also depends on where you live (link in German). In the countryside, pollen particles are released into the air in the morning until midday. In the city, where it’s warmer for longer in the evenings, the pollen starts to descend towards the end of the day. So if you live in a rural area, you should air your home in the evening. If you’re a city dweller, on the other hand, you should do so in the morning. Rain is also good news for people with hay fever, as it washes the particles out of the air. So feel free to fully open your windows after a downpour.
2. Install a pollen screen
If you want to be on the safe side, you can also attach pollen screens to the window. These prevent pollen and dirt particles from getting in when the windows are open. According to the manufacturer, putting up the Tesa pollen screen is simple: «The pollen grid is mounted easily and quickly without additional tools with a self-adhesive Velcro tape without drilling,» reads Tesa’s description.
Fly screens
EUR29,50
tesa Pollen protection grille, for allergy sufferers, can be closed incl. self-adhesive Velcro tape
3. Prepare for bed
This includes showering and washing your hair right before going to bed. This will rinse off pollen from your body and prevent it from getting into your bed.
4. Banish clothes from the bedroom
During the pollen season, make sure not to bring clothes you’ve had on into the bedroom. Take items off in the bathroom if you’ve been wearing them during the day and possibly outside. It’s a good idea to put the clothing straight into your wash basket. This model by Songmics is particularly popular with our customers. The cotton bag lining the basket prevents dirt particles from getting out. Plus you can fully close the lid. One customer writes that it’s also «super practical because of its swivel castors». These make it very easy to move to different spots or rooms.
5. Use the right bed linen
It’s worth giving your bed some thought. Natural fabrics such as linen or cotton and tightly woven materials are ideal for bed covers. This is because they stop pollen and dust from collecting in your covers. The Room05 bed linen which is made from 100% Egyptian cotton, has received particularly positive reviews, for example. With a thread count of 400, the material is very dense. Linen lovers will also find what they’re looking for in our shop. Lotus bedding products are made entirely from linen. The zip makes changing the sheets easy. Speaking of which, it’s recommended that people with a pollen allergy wash their bed linen once a week (link in German).
6. Dry laundry indoors
Even if your washing will dry faster outdoors in the sunshine and a clothes horse is a nuisance: laundry shouldn’t be hung up outside to dry. In other words, make sure you hang your clothes, towels and bed linen indoors in a pollen-proof room.
7. Suck pollen out of the air
Many cleanliness-conscious households equipped their homes with this helper in recent years – an air purifier. It’s designed to filter pollen as well as dirt particles, viruses and pollutants from the room. And clean air makes it much easier to breathe. There are several [air purifiers] to choose from in our range(/s2/producttype/luftreiniger-167). My colleague Simon Balissat tested some of the devices for you:
Header image: Eeli Purola/Shutterstock
Cat lady and coffee lover from up north. Always on the lookout for «News and Trends».