If you have hay fever, summer can be miserable. And staying indoors doesn’t necessarily help. In fact, poor indoor air quality and dusty surfaces can make symptoms worse.
But there are practical steps you can take to reduce hay fever symptoms and improve air quality in your home. Here’s what to do.
1. Get a HEPA filter vacuum cleaner or robot vacuum cleaner
If you have hay fever, you should get a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter, as that is effective enough to suck up and retain all the pollen that has landed on your floors.
HEPA filters should capture 99.95-99.97% of particles 3 microns or larger. Not only is that a very high level of dust removal, and one that will get the dust mites out of your mattress, but a HEPA filter traps the collected dust and prevents it from being blown back into your home’s air.
Check out our roundup of the best vacuum cleaners we’ve tested to see which vacuum cleaners with HEPA filters we recommend.
However, keep in mind that if you opt for a bagless vacuum cleaner, you will release some of the dirt and dust you just collected back into your living space. Ideally, if you’re using a bagless vacuum cleaner, you should empty it into an outside bin, but for most people that’s just not realistic.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
If you have hay fever or a dust allergy, bagged vacuums are the better option. They make a big difference in capturing dust and keeping it trapped once collected.
A budget-friendly pocketed option is the Halo Capsule, which we’ve reviewed and rated as one of the best we’ve tested. If you can spend more, there’s another option in the form of the Samsung Bespoke Jet (read our review).
The Bespoke Jet is a bagless vacuum cleaner, but it rests and charges in an auto-empty bag dock, which empties the vacuum via suction, converting it to a bagged system. You only need to replace the bag in the dock once a month (approximately) and you don’t have to deal with dust at all.
Running a robot vacuum every day is another good way to minimize the amount of dust in the air. Ideally, set it up to do its rounds when you’re away from home, so you don’t have to deal with pollen and debris being thrown up. By the time you get home, the remaining dust will have literally settled.
Like vacuum cleaners, many robot vacuum cleaners have HEPA filters, so keep that in mind when you buy.
You can now also buy auto-empty robot vacuum cleaners, which also empty themselves in a dock. You can see a number of them in our overview of recommended robot vacuum cleaners.
2. Vacuum your upholstery
Fabrics, carpets, sofas, cushions and mattresses can become storage areas for animal hair, pollen, dust and dander. It’s time to clean them.
Keep in mind that any cleaning you do will initially make hay fever symptoms worse. Wear a face mask or – even better – get help from someone else to take over all tasks related to dust.
People who are very sensitive to dust can buy mattress protectors against dust mites. If you think you don’t need to cover your entire mattress, you can buy hypoallergenic pillow protectors that protect against mildew, dust mites and more.
For everyone else, a thorough cleaning of all your upholstery should make a big difference to the air quality in your home. Your bed is where you spend the most time, so start there. Strip your bed and vacuum your mattress and pillows.
Curtains should be removed and put in the washing machine. Then go to your living room and vacuum the cushions of your couch and chairs. Which brings us to our next piece of advice.
3. Clean the filters in your appliances
Most of your appliances have filters to trap dust and lint. Once they’re stuck, they’ll also be less effective at removing dust and dirt from the air and surfaces around your home.
Start with your vacuum cleaner. Empty the bag if there is one and clean the filter. Newer vacuum cleaners may have dust bins that can be completely removed and rinsed under the tap.
Then check the filters in your tumble dryereach heaters, fans, air conditioners or existing air purifiers. All of these devices can help purify the air in your home.
And while you’re at it, you could clean the fans your PC. You know it’s necessary.
We saved the worst but most important job for last: cleaning your cooker hood. Your kitchen is the source of many of the air pollutants in your home, and you’d be amazed at how much impact cooking has on the air quality in your home. A clean range hood can make a big difference.
(If you didn’t know extractor fans needed regular cleaning, then you’re in for a special time.)
4. Learn about your air quality
Get in the habit of checking the pollen count and quality of the outside air when you first wake up. This will give you an idea if it’s a good day to open windows.
But that’s only half the story. It is even more important to learn about the air quality in your home. Check out our dedicated explainer to learn more about what kind of pollutants are in your air at home.
Once you have a good idea of the air quality in your home, you can take steps to improve it.
You can buy a special monitor, but if you suffer from hay fever, you might as well buy a device that purifies your air at the same time.
5. Invest in an air purifier
An air purifier sucks air through a filter and then circulates the cleaned air back into your living space. It’s not the cheapest option, because not only will you have to run the purifier regularly – and especially during days when you have severe hay fever symptoms – which will cost you electricity, but you’ll also be on the hook for replacement filters.
Usually these need to be replaced every six months. Some types of filters are washable, but carbon filters, which trap odors and gases from cleaning products, cosmetics and more, will become saturated over time and become ineffective. There is nothing for it but to replace them.
When you buy an air purifier, make sure it’s the right size for the room you want to use it in. Air purifiers have different Clean Air Delivery Rates (CADR), so if you use one that’s too small in a large room, it won’t have any effect on your air quality.
We’ve got all the information you need to buy an air purifier, plus all the products we recommend, in our roundup of the best air purifiers we’ve tested.
Dyson
6. Start with good air habits
The final stage in reducing your hay fever symptoms is to keep the air in your home clean. This means you need to be more aware of air quality and change your habits to protect it.
We’ve covered the reasons why you should do this above, but the bottom line is: the range hood is there for a reason. Do not only turn it on when you are cooking, but also when you use cleaning products.
Cleaning: do not combine products and do not use sprays
Cleaning products that are safe on their own can become dangerous in combination. Most people know that if you mix bleach and ammonia (e.g., bleach and toilet cleaner), you can create toxic chloramine gas. But did you know that bleach and vinegar is another combination to avoid? Mix the two and you get toxic chlorine gas.
Even products that are safe to use can have a negative effect if you inhale them. Therefore, it is recommended to avoid cleaning sprays and use liquids instead. Long-term use of cleaning sprays is associated with an increased incidence of new asthma and other respiratory problems; regular inhalation of bleach is associated with lung disease.
Don’t use OD on scented things
Plug-in air fresheners and scented candles – especially those made from paraffin – release chemicals into the air as they heat up, which can affect your breathing.
It’s not just the ingredients that go in that are the problem. For example, limonene, which is used to create citrus scents, can produce formaldehyde when burned.
Are there enough of these pollutants to cause actual harm? The British Lung Foundation says candles, when used occasionally, “are not likely to pose a major health risk”, but the general advice is not to burn them every day and only in well-ventilated areas. Frankincense should be used even more sparingly as there is strong evidence that its use is linked to lung disease.
Are you considering buying an air purifier? These are the best air purifiers we’ve tested.