Surviving the 2025 Daytime Nightmare: Allergy Edition
Potential 2025 Allergy Suffering: Anticipated to Be Among the Most Severe on Report, Explore Preventive Measures
Got your hankies ready? You're not alone if you're suffering from intense allergy symptoms - turns out, 80 million Americans share your pain. And guess what? It's only getting worse. Here's the lowdown on why this year's allergy season will be brutally brutal and how to prep yourself for a picked-nosed, sneezing mess of a spring.
Hannah Jaffee, research director for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), is here to set the record straight.
Why Are Allergies Driving You Bananas?
There's a reason your allergies seem like they're on steroids. Climate change, baby! It's responsible for two key triggers that are making your life a living hell. When temperatures rise, plants start blooming earlier and stick around longer, scattering pollen throughout the year. Plus, there's more carbon dioxide in the air these days, which plants just can't resist. This means they grow faster, bigger, and produce even more pollen, according to Penn Medicine's Becker ENT and Allergy.
It seems that Spring is just skipping the pilot and jumping right into Season 2. "Due to climate change, growing seasons start 20 days earlier than they did just 30 years ago," Jaffe says. "Tree pollen starts earlier, and ragweed pollen lasts longer, effectively making pollen seasons year-round in some parts of the country."
The bad news? This allergy trend isn't slowing down any time soon. But the good news? A modeling system predicts that in certain areas, oak and ragweed pollen will decrease in intensity. So, if you're a ragweed sufferer, you might want to head to the upper midwest or western parts of PA and NY, while the northwest regions will be more bearable if oak pollen is your Achilles' heel.
Allergy Hotspots
If you live in the southern and southeast US, then tough luck - your allergies are going to be absolute monsters this year. The AAFA recently released its 2025 Allergy Capitals report, and these are the places you should really steer clear of (unless you want to hand out more tissues than at a Kleenex factory):
- Wichita, KS
- New Orleans, LA
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Tulsa, OK
- Memphis, TN
- Little Rock, AR
- Raleigh, NC
- Richmond, VA
- Greenville, SC
- Greensboro, NC
Brace Yourself for a Brutal Allergy Season
So, now you have the ugly truth. The good news is that there are ways to minimize your suffering. "Using a comprehensive allergy management strategy - both reducing exposure to pollen and using allergy medicines - can allow you to both enjoy spring weather and reduce allergy symptoms," Jaffe says.
Figure Out What's Making You Miserable
Plants have different pollen release schedules, so tracking when your symptoms occur can help you identify exactly what's terrorizing your sinuses. For instance, tree pollen tends to wreak havoc from February to April, grass pollen peaks from April to June, and ragweed ramps up in late summer.
Reduce Your Contact with Pollen
Stay indoors on days with high pollen counts. Keep windows closed and use air purifiers to reduce the amount of pollen in your home. Consider wearing a high-quality mask, like an N95 or KN95, when you venture outside during peak season.
Control Your Symptoms
Use allergy medications before you really need them to give them time to build up in your system and help control your reaction. Tools like neti pots or simple saline sprays can help rinse pollen out of your nasal passages, and if your allergies are particularly nasty, it might be worth seeing an allergist for additional treatments.
- With climate change causing plants to bloom earlier and stay longer, resulting in year-round pollen seasons in certain parts of the country, it's definitely crucial to be prepared for a brutal allergy season in 2025.
- As the research director for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Hannah Jaffee advises using a comprehensive allergy management strategy, both reducing exposure to pollen and utilizing allergy medicines, to minimize suffering during the spring allergy season.
- According to the AAFA's 2025 Allergy Capitals report, residents in Wichita, KS, New Orleans, LA, Oklahoma City, OK, Tulsa, OK, Memphis, TN, Little Rock, AR, Raleigh, NC, Richmond, VA, Greenville, SC, and Greensboro, NC should be aware that their allergies will likely be severe in the coming year.
- To identify the specific allergen causing your misery, it's beneficial to track when your symptoms occur as different plants release pollen at various times, such as tree pollen from February to April, grass pollen from April to June, and ragweed from late summer.
