By Eden
Although the last winter in Israel has been harsh, there are many people who do not enjoy spring. And for good reason: These are weeks of nose-blowing, red-eyed, and parched feeling.
It’s just that allergy season is serious business. And sadly, the climate change the world is experiencing is not making things much better.
“There is the greenhouse effect that in countries like Israel prolongs the hot season, creates more air pollution, leads to longer flowering times and apparently also leads to very high flowering intensity, which shortens the lives of people with allergies” explained Dr. Yuval Tal, director of the allergy and clinical immunology unit at Hadassah Jerusalem Medical Center.
The specialist indicated that another issue related to the greenhouse effect is the increase in carbon dioxide: “The more the CO2 seasonality increases, the more time is left for the flowers to bloom and create more pollen.”
And pollen is precisely the main enemy of people who suffer from respiratory allergies.
“Usually when we think of pollen, we think of pretty flowers that attract bees and pollinate them. That’s not the pollen we’re talking about when it comes to allergies. This is pollen pollinated by a different wind-based method,” said Gabriela Adler, chief scientist at air quality monitoring and forecasting company BreezoMeter, who has a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences.
The specialist described that because pollination is not directed as it is with bees, the problem has more to do with quantities.
“The flowers of these trees are not very pretty because they do not need to attract insects. Thus, they simply throw large amounts of pollen into the air. Pollen is seasonal and varies from species to species. Trees usually bloom in the spring, then there is grass and later in the fall there are weeds. Each one has a season, just like the different types of trees (birch, olive and oak trees have their own season) and they are all affected by the microclimate. A tree located in Jerusalem will have a different seasonality than a similar tree located 20 kilometers away,” she remarked.
What do the trees know?
Adler explained that trees have an emission mechanism and a dispersion mechanism: “The first one emits pollen when conditions are optimal and it seems that the pollen will not be wasted. The best conditions are high temperature and relatively low humidity. For trees, that usually happens around spring.”
But the effects of climate change, fluctuating temperatures, and longer and shorter seasons play into that.
“Coniferous trees, for example, have mechanisms that ‘count’ the number of cold days in winter and then, when temperatures rise, they do the same with warm days in order to pollinate. Every temperature-related disruption hampers the entire pollen season,” Adler added.
According to Tal, specific weather events like thunderstorms also wreak havoc on regular pollination patterns: “There’s the whole issue of extreme weather. If, for example, there is a thunderstorm, the lightning causes the pollen to rise from the ground and the electricity in the air opens up the proteins.”
Stress and allergies
However, climate change is not the only thing that has worsened allergies in recent years.
“Other things that make things worse are our growing awareness, the fact that we have more money and, perhaps most importantly, the increasing stress of Western life. Chronic stress makes allergic diseases more difficult to balance due to a protein in the blood that is the main one in the allergic process. This makes the state of allergies worse and more difficult to treat. I think that’s no less substantial than other things,” Tal said.
As for awareness and money, Tal pointed out that since most people are no longer struggling to survive as they did in the past, today they can spend more time and think about smaller things that annoy them, like a runny nose. and itchy eyes, conditions that are life-threatening but affect well-being.
Prevention and treatment
The specialists recommended taking preventive measures and complying with treatments.
Adler, whose company lets users know in real time what allergens are in their immediate environment, said simple actions like deciding whether or not to hang clothes outside or walk the dog because of pollen levels can minimize the exposure and suffering.
“It is possible to avoid some situations and manage the whole issue of allergies. Mainly it is about being aware that things can change from one day to the next and that it is something dynamic, even when it is allergy season, ”he remarked.
For his part, Tal suggested foregoing over-the-counter antihistamines in favor of a visit to a specialist. “Professionals have the tools to help people. It is possible to give solutions to around 90 percent of patients,” he told ISRAEL21c.
For him, the allergy pill is not always the solution. “People take an antihistamine for everything. It usually doesn’t do any harm, but it doesn’t do much good either, and it probably isn’t the same type of antihistamine that we might prescribe as professionals anyway. In this way, going to an expert is the most effective solution that comes to mind”, he concluded.