Seasonal Allergies Throughout the Entire Year and What You Can Do to Combat Them

The changing of the seasons is usually a time for newfound celebration. It promises a fresh start, a welcomed change in weather, and exciting holidays and festivities to come.

But it also brings seasonal allergies (more clinically known as “allergic rhinitis”) which affect upwards of 60 million people per year in the United States, according to the CDC (1). And it’s not just for spring or fall – allergens can appear year-round.

Season length and symptoms vary each year depending on the weather and where you live. So let’s dive into the details of each season so you get a handle on how to remedy this nuisance of an ailment.

What Are Seasonal Allergies?

Allergies are your body’s reaction to foreign substances it considers an “invader.” These “invaders,” commonly known as allergens (such as pollen, for example) spark your immune system – which is your body’s natural defense system – to put up its guard and defend you from such an invader.

To do this, your body releases a chemical called histamines (also leukotrienes and prostaglandins). Unfortunately, these chemicals cause the bulk of those pesky allergy symptoms, according to Yale Medicine (2).

What are common seasonal allergy symptoms?

Coughing
Congestion
Sneezing
Itchy eyes, nose, and throat
Runny nose
Watery eyes
Post nasal drip (drainage in the throat)
Fatigue

It’s important to note that seasonal allergies are different from what’s known as “perennial allergies” – e.g., dust mites and cat hair – which can affect you all year long. But both can be equally as annoying.

Allergies are your body’s reaction to foreign substances it considers an “invader.”

Types of Seasonal Allergies

An overview of main allergens:

Tree pollen—March/April
Grass pollen—June/July
Ragweed—Fall
Mold—Fall

Let’s dive further into each season, followed by natural remedies for each type.

Fall Allergies

With the crisp air and colorful gourds abound, fall tends to feel like a fresh start. The kids are back at school and businesses are in full-swing planning for the promise of the holidays to come. But that momentum can come to a halt when fall allergies come to play.

Ragweed pollen is one of the most common culprits for seasonal allergies in the fall time. This weed starts pollinating around late summer through early-to-mid fall, depending on the weather. Ragweed can grow just about anywhere – and even if it isn’t in your area, its pollen travels (3) hundreds of miles through the air when riding the wind.

This is also when the dreaded “hay fever” begins to strike, which is usually at its peak between late March and September, especially when it's warm, humid, and windy (4).

During this season, you may also run into mold that develops in wet leaves and soil. Lastly, you’ll want to be mindful that this time of year you’ll be turning on the heating – stirring up dust mites into the air.

Winter Allergies

As the weather heads towards the lowest temperatures of the year, we can finally say goodbye to outdoor pollen and many plant allergies. However, as move more and more indoors, year-round, or “perennial” allergies can rear their ugly head. These indoor allergies include mold, dust mites, pet dander, and even your Christmas tree (5)!

But before you go throwing out your beautiful Douglas Fur, there are a few things you can do before bringing it into the house:

Shake the tree down to get rid of dust mites
Hose down live trees with water to get rid of mold spores
Use a mask when going to the storage for ornaments and decor to protect yourself from dust

Spring Allergies

Trees begin to blossom, layers of clothing go into storage, and sunshine greets us in the early mornings again. What feels like a fresh start also triggers one of the biggest outdoor allergies – tree pollen! This infamous allergen is intensified by the spring breeze, as the wind carries the pollen through the air.

Cedar trees can release pollen as early as January if you’re living in the South, but most other people won’t feel its effects until February, with March and April being its peak thanks to trees such as willow, pine, and mulberry.

Other allergens such as grass and weed pollen can also trigger those unwanted allergy symptoms as early as March.

Summer Allergies

When summertime rolls around, everyone wants to enjoy it worry-free; in other words, without allergy flare-ups. The hot weather is perfect for swimming, camping, and entertaining outdoors, but the humidity also makes the environment prime for mold which can trigger allergies in general.

From July through early fall, many people may experience allergy symptoms related to fungus spores growing on grass, grains, or outdoor logs. Even further, many things are pollinating during the summer. The most common trigger this time of year is grass pollen.

Beta glucan helps support a healthy and robust immune system.

Mainstream Allergy Treatments

There are many ways to try to remedy unwanted allergies. The treatment you choose (or have recommended to you by a specialist) will depend on the type of allergy and the severity of said symptoms.

Mainstream treatments include:

Anti-histamines: Over-the-counter and prescription medications used to treat your overall allergy symptoms
Nasal sprays & decongestants: Topical nasal antihistamines used to treat allergy symptoms such as itchy and/or runny nose
Allergy shots: regular injections to stop or reduce allergy attacks

Let’s dive further into the cons of these treatments.

Since allergies are an immune response that produces “histamines,” antihistamines are medications that block the production of histamines in the body. While they are overall safe to use, they are very well known for making you feel tired, sleepy, fatigued, and can even cause a cloudy mind. So while they are effective, the side effects can negatively affect your day.

Nasal sprays, while also effective, have been known to cause a “rebound congestion” (6) when you stop taking the product. This is a sensation that makes you feel as though you need to continue taking it to get that clear passageway feeling.

Allergy shots are a long-term plan which requires you to speak to an allergist or immunologist.

Natural Remedies for Seasonal Allergies

If none of those sound like viable options for you, fortunately, there are many quick and easy ways to rid yourself of pesky allergy symptoms or ensure you never feel them at all. These include:

In the summer: Take a shower and wash your hair after working or playing outdoors.
In the spring and summer: Avoid outdoor activity in the early morning when pollen counts are highest.
Wear protective clothing when mowing the lawn or gardening.
Keep indoor allergies at bay by vacuuming frequently using a machine with a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter.
Stay in tune with the pollen forecasts and current pollen levels. The American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology has an allergen tracker. (7)
Use HEPA filters in the air heating and air conditioning of your house and keep them well-maintained.

You’ll also want to consider Beta Glucan, the best way to beat allergies naturally.

Beta Glucan for Natural Allergy Relief

This supplement uses beta-glucan to beat allergy symptoms in a holistic way. In fact, it’s been proven to reduce allergy symptoms caused by ragweed (8) (the biggest fall allergy) as well as cedar pollen (9) (a big spring culprit).

Beta glucan is a substance found in the fiber within the cell walls of yeast, bacteria, and other plants. Beta glucan helps support a healthy and robust immune system. And think about it: a strong immune system is going to be able to fight off allergic reactions on its own – without firing off histamines to do so (goodbye itchy eyes and runny nose!). Beta-glucan is safe for both children (10) and adults.

While there’s no one perfect cure for allergies, there are plenty of natural ways to keep allergy symptoms at bay from spring to summer to fall to winter.

Still have questions?

Our ACES Team is always there to help.

support@betterwayhealth.com Live Chat 800.746.7640

References

FAQ

For more information about beta glucan, Better Way Health and more, visit our FAQ page. To speak to an Amazing Customer Experience Specialist, give us a call at 800.746.7640or email us at hello@betterwayhealth.com

Our Beta Glucan goes through a rigorous purification process developed by the creator: AJ Lanigan. Once this purification process takes place, only about 10% of a given “batch” meets our 85% minimum purity standard. The “scraps”, so to speak (the other 90% of the batches), are then sold off and marketed by other companies. In addition, the product has been tested time and time again to prove its efficacy. When compared to other heavily marketed immune system products, our product comes out on top every single time. These comparison studies are conducted by a disinterested third party researcher at the University of Louisville: Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka. In these studies, immune response levels are safely tested on both humans and animals. Our product is also Non-GMO and encased in a Vegan, plant-based capsule.

-Better Way Health

Better Way Health Beta Glucan is certainly one of the most renowned brands out there in the marketplace. In our world of immune system support, when you ask “What’s the best immune system supplement out there?”; well, the Better Way Health name is the most recognized.

Anyone who has spent time reviewing side-by-side comparisons of our product with, again, just about any other kind of immune compound; regardless of the source, you’re going to find that Beta Glucan 500 by Better Way Health outperforms all competitors. This has been the case for years; this is not a new phenomenon that conclusive research done by disinterested third parties in major universities and teaching hospitals all over the world agree that the potency of Glucan 500 makes it 100% the leading immune system product available.

-AJ Lanigan

The immunomodulating aspects of Beta Glucan is what makes it safer and more efficacious than the competition. Studies confirm our Beta Glucan is the most effective immune system product on the market, including even other beta glucans. The patented purification process developed by AJ Lanigan is what makes our Beta Glucan more biologically active and beneficial to consumers.

-Better Way Health

This is rather easy to answer. Glucan 300® has one really big advantage in that it is the most studied natural immonomodulator of them all. The biological studies number in the tens of thousands. For most other products, you may find 10 to 15 studies. If you have 10,000+ papers from all around the world, that cannot be ignored.

-Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka

We did a couple of studies and we published them comparing some individual glucans to individual immune-modulators like Echinacea. That is one example, most of the clinical studies on that plant failed because one company is using leaves, one is using roots and each has a different quality inside so you never know what you get.

With the "mixture" type products, it is even worse because some manufacturers are just trying to either increase the price by putting five things together, so it’s not 30 bucks it’s now $50. None of these manufacturers are actually doing any research on the combinations of their ingredients.

-Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka

This topic is like comparing Super Bowl Champions (Better Way Health Beta Glucan) to Recreational Sports Teams (the competition). There is practically no comparison; when you look at the average Immune System Product on the market, even an abundance of it may only be able to raise your Immune Response 2 to 3 percent. That increase, however, may be costing you thousands of dollars; thus, I would not consider that to be much of a comparison. For about 1$ a day, with our Glucan 500 product, you can get your immune response up to about 60% (double the innate human immunity): no one can compete with that efficacy.

-AJ Lanigan

Beta Glucan has been studied for over 50 years at major universities and teaching hospitals, all of which are disinterested third party researchers. There are more than 150,000 glucan studies on PubMed.gov and nearly 50,000 studies involving glucans and humans. Our Beta Glucan specifically has been featured in over 20 medical journals, including the prestigious American Journal of Immunology and the Journal of Medicinal Food.

-Better Way Health

There are more than 150,000 studies on Glucan that you can find on Medline and PubMed. Roughly, you can also find 50,000 studies on Glucans and their interaction with Humans. Throughout these studies, there has never been an adverse side effect found with our product, Beta Glucan 500 (Glucan #300®).

-AJ Lanigan

Other than the thousands of studies out there, there is an excellent book by Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka from the University of Louisville entitled, Beta Glucan: Nature’s Secret. It’s about 157 pages and provides a quick, educational read for those interested in everything Beta Glucan: the history, safety, benefits, and mechanism of action of Beta Glucan. The bibliography included in the book provides dozens of other peer-reviewed articles and journals for curious consumers.

-AJ Lanigan

If somebody goes to PubMed.Gov or some kind of scientific database, there is about 150,000 hits now and about 50 new papers appear every week. The research is really booming.

-Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka

Anyone / anything with an immune system can benefit from taking Beta Glucan, including both humans and pets. Our immune system is our first line of defense and it can always use additional “soldiers.” Keep in mind that our Beta Glucan makes a person’s immune system smarter and stronger, but never causes overstimulation or harm. There are no known side effects.

-Better Way Health

“Anyone who is living can benefit from a healthier Immune System” – A.J. Lanigan

People who want proper support for their Immune System should use this product. People who simply want to maintain or regain their good health can benefit from this product as well.

Many conditions, whether environmental or physical, put significant stress on the Immune System.

Infectious Disease, Cardiovascular Disease, Chemotherapy Treatment, Radiation, Allergies, Asthma, and Stress are all severely taxing on the body. This type of suppression and depression of the immune system is what puts everyone’s health person at risk. Be proactive; take a product that benefits your overall health by enhancing your body’s own natural ability to stay well and recuperate.

That’s right, anyone and everyone can benefit from the immune modulating effects of Beta-1, 3D Glucan.

-AJ Lanigan

For people who are under heavy stress or are just working in some kind of extreme conditions, they need all the help they can get. Proactive supplementation is also recommended for Flu and Cold seasons

-Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka

For maximum immune response, take one 500mg capsule per 50 lbs. of body weight. For example, if you weigh around 150 lbs. you would need to take 3 capsules per day. All capsules should be taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. After taking your capsules, wait 30 minutes before eating or consuming other products. If you forget to take your capsules in the morning it is safe to go ahead and take your Beta Glucan during the day, although the benefits will not be as significant. Remember, these dosage instructions are for maximum immune response, any dose (i.e., 1 capsule per day) is still extremely beneficial.

-Better Way Health

Maximum dose is based on body weight: Remember, your weight in kg’s is your weight in pounds divided by 2.2. For example, a 220lb person is 100kg. The guideline for maintaining good health is 2mg/kg of body weight per day. For the 220 pound person mentioned above, who is 100kg, they should take 200mg per day and that would be extraordinarily effective Immune Support.

For people who want or need additional immune support, there is a 500mg capsule. The recommendation for this group is 20 mg/kg/day or a 500mg capsule for every 50 pounds of body weight. Thus, a 100kg person (220lb) would take 4 capsules of the 500mg per day; for a 110 pound person, two capsules of the 500mg Beta Glucan would suffice. If your weight does not calculate out to an exact dose, round up or down depending on your needs; or you can average it out by taking 1 capsule one day and 2 the next.

The point is, the product is safe and you can be flexible with dosage if you reflect the guidelines above. Even taking just 1 - 500mg capsule each day is an extremely beneficial dose.

-AJ Lanigan

For healthy people, 500 mg per day should be enough. If someone has repeated heavy infections, or, God forbid, a cancer or something like that; then you need a much larger dose.

Of courses it is not some strict measurement but for the normal size of guy 100 mg would be fine and if is a heavy infection, 500 to 1000 mg. If you have a cancer 1000 would be the best.

Neutrophils and monocytes in our blood live only for a couple of days. That is why you have a need for constant, daily, glucan consumption because they die and the new cells are appearing and then you need the glucan again to boost these immune cells.

-Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka

No, there are no known side effects pertaining to our Beta Glucan. There have been numerous safe human and animal studies showing the safety of Beta Glucan. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given our Beta Glucan GRAS rating, which means Generally Recognized as Safe under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. This certification is extremely hard to achieve especially when it comes to a dietary supplement.

-Better Way Health

You can absolutely take this product without worry! There have been multiple studies done on fully-healthy people looking at every health parameter you can imagine: organs, tissues, chemicals, brain function, etcetera.

No harmful effects were caused at any dosage level. Even people who were taking doses that were exponentially higher than any level we recommend, (some of the more exotic animal studies have doses that exceed 800X the recommended dosage) displayed 0 side effects whatsoever. As I am famous for saying, “unless you hit somebody in the eye with the bottle, there is no harm that can be caused by this product”

-AJ Lanigan

Beta Glucan enhances a person’s immune response in a safe way. The average person has about a 30% active immune response. When someone takes our Beta Glucan it raises that person’s immune response to 60%, and in some cases even more, if they are taking the maximum immune response dosage. This allows for your immune system to recognize cells that are both self and non-self more effectively. I’m sure you can imagine the benefits of walking around with a doubled immune response/immune system!

-Better Way Health

Beta Glucan enhances the immune system by improving the immune response when the immune system is confronted by something that does not belong. This could be a foreign body that it sees as “non-self,” something like a virus, a bacteria, a fungus form, a cancer or a parasite.

Our Beta-1, 3D Glucan is an intensely purified, highly active form of Beta Glucan; that, when taken orally with a glass of water, attaches to specific sites on the immune cells: the CR3 receptors. By attaching or binding to these specific sites, it activates these cells. It’s like putting the cells on “high alert” to the foreign bodies that they see as non-self. This process is referred to as immune modulation, not stimulation.

Immune stimulation presumably occurs with substances like Echinacea and Colostrum. Beta Glucan modulates or activates but doesn’t over stimulate, which is key to the safety of the compound. Research shows that our Beta-1, 3D Glucan is a highly effective immune modulator. It’s easily absorbed through, what we call, the Peyer’s Patches in the Small Intestine. Once these beta glucan “micro-particles” are taken up through this area in the small intestine, they will then be absorbed through phagocytosis or “gobbled up” by the immune cells in the gut.

They’ll travel around the body and it is the immune cells themselves that will digest and secrete the perfect molecule that binds to the CR 3 receptor and activates the immune system.

-AJ Lanigan

Beta Glucan is not temperature sensitive. If it is exposed to extreme hot or cold temperatures, the efficacy of the product will not be impacted. However, we do recommend keeping a close eye on your tracking information, which is sent to you via email with all orders. This way you know when your order will arrive and when you will be able to retrieve it from your mailbox or front door.

Our Beta Glucan is made in Wisconsin, USA and bottled / encapsulated in Oregon, USA.

Our highly purified Beta Glucan powder is encased in PLANTCAPS™, which is a Plant-based capsule made from pullulan – naturally fermented from tapioca.

After 50 years of research, our Beta Glucan has no known side effects, or interactions with a GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) rating by the FDA. It is one of the safest, most effective dietary supplements on the market.

Many women take our Beta Glucan while breastfeeding, to help support their immune system. Babies can also benefit from mom's immune system giving the best response possible.

However, if you have any concerns whatsoever, we recommend consulting with your health care professional before use, as a precautionary measure.

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About the author

Taylor Morris

As COO of Better Way Health, Taylor creates and Implements business operations & policies that reinforce our company culture. He ensures we stick to our core values and provides resources to elevate our team members in their respective roles. He is the day-to-day backbone of our world-class customer service and a seasoned authority on Beta Glucan.