How can I avoid dust allergies?
Dust mites, which causes dust allergies, live in your bedding, furniture and carpets, so it's common to wake up in the morning with symptoms. Allergy specialist Tania Elliott, MD, shares some tips for avoiding dust allergies at home.
Transcript
The most common thing that I see is people waking up in the morning after they're essentially sleeping on what they're allergic to and they have nasal congestion
and postnasal drip. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Dust allergies is actually the dust mite, which is an organism that feeds off of house dust as well as the moisture and the humidity in the air.
So they like to live in your bedding, your couches, carpeting, curtains, and upholstered furniture.
So when you lay down or sit down, you're activating that dust and it's going to cause allergy symptoms.
The most common thing that I see is people waking up in the morning after they're essentially sleeping on what they're allergic to
and they have nasal congestion and postnasal drip. So there's a lot you can do for dust mite allergy. Number one is keep an eye on the humidity level in the room.
So you want to keep the relative humidity at less than 50%. And you can check this by getting a humidity gauge
at the local hardware store. So that's number one. Other things you want to do is get protective dust mite-proof covers for your mattress, pillow, and box spring.
Wash your sheets once a week on very high heat. And then, if possible, remove curtains, drapes,
and upholstered furniture from the home. And here's a tip for kids. So if you're noticing that your child is waking up
with nasal congestion and coughing, there's a chance that their stuffed animals are harboring dust mites.
So what you would want to do is take the stuffed animal, put it in the freezer in a Ziploc bag overnight, and you want to do that weekly so that you don't
have to tell your kids to get rid of their favorite stuffed animals. [AUDIO LOGO]
allergies
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