Which of these 7 aspects of health is the main cause of your allergies? Identifying can show you where to start to take a huge load of your body, reducing allergy symptoms and leaving extra energy to build immune health or for you to use in daily life.
- Enough Sleep AND Enough Rest
When we sleep restfully, during the nighttime hours, our bodies cleanse the bloodstream, build immune system, clear unnecessary emotional energy from the day, regulate hormones, and restore energy and blood that are necessary for healthy interaction with our environment. It is amazing what the proper amount of restful sleep can do for health in general. It is also important that the sleep be during the nighttime hours, ideally somewhere in 9 pm- 8 am. Nighttime is the natural restorative time for the organs, especially liver and lungs and to sleep during the day is like trying to get a suntan at night. If you are not getting 8 hours of sleep at night, this is absolutely the number one thing to do before expecting any treatment or medication to be the solution. For skin rash and eczema, this is even more important.
- Exposure to Chemicals, Fragrance, Irritants
The amount of chemical fragrance used in most laundry detergents is outrageous. It will stay in clothes and bedsheets and aggravate throughout the day and night. Be sure to use a biodegradable or hypoallergenic fragrance free detergent. Also in skin creams, home deodorizers may be causing mild headaches, allergies, and hormone imbalances without us even knowing it. These common household fragrances can affect hormones and wreak havoc for young girls, women and men–actually on all members of the household. Also check exposure to mold, animal dander and saliva, and plants that cause problems. Minimize exposure as best as possible. Second and third hand smoke (smoke in the walls, furniture, car) is toxic and will definitely cause allergies and other immune and mood problems.
- Food/Digestion/Blood Sugar
Ideally the food we eat is fresh, seasonal, and organic. Minimize processed food, preservatives, food dyes, hydrogenated fats, sugar, and old food. Regular meals without grazing, sitting relaxing while eating strengthens ability to assimilate nutrition and turn food into energy rather than mucous or inflammation. Be sure to include the 5 flavors regularly in the diet and keep them balanced–sweet, salty, spicy, bitter, sour. In the US we don’t pay much attention to the 5 flavors and will diet with all sweet flavored shakes or bars. This will weaken the digestive system and throw off insulin and other hormones and also induce imbalanced cravings. Example flavors to include are italian parsley, grapefruit, celery, fennel seeds, bok choy, lemon, apple cider vinegar.
Sometimes low blood sugar will also induce an allergy attack, even for a person who does not have any blood sugar imbalance diagnosis. Warm soup or broth with vegetables or meat may help clean up. Notice the effect of food and lack of food. Sometimes food will induce an attack. The usual suspects are bread, cheese, milk, ice cream, cold food, alcohol, pastries. Minimize these foods and any foods that you notice after eating you feel tired, bloated, rashy, mentally foggy, or congested.
- Hormones/Blood Deficiency
Whether they are out of balance or in a natural transition such as during puberty or late 40’s-50’s for men and women, hormones can be the cause of allergies. There are many people who have never had allergies in their lives, and all of a sudden they get allergies. This could still be related to any of the factors listed in this article, but if there is a hormonal imbalance, this may be the place to start. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are the best approach I know of to address and support healthy change. If you have low blood or Iron, PMS, irregular periods, thyroid imbalance, or are in menopause or for men in 50s, consider addressing hormones and blood to get to the root of your allergy symptoms. In these cases, Claritin and certain OTC allergy medications are more likely to lose effect over time and also cause other problems such as mood and libido problems.
- Stress/Overload
Allergies are affected by the body’s pressure systems. It is that simple. The vascular system is maxed out and overloads, and the congested energy or mucous is bulging and bursting out. Try 10 minutes of quiet time or of the Microcosmic Orbit breathing meditation. Five minutes of belly breathing and then a few minutes of rest. Notice if you get immediate reduction in symptoms and apply this awareness to the bigger picture as well as using it regularly for immediate relief. The bigger picture of “overload” is often happening in our lives in general–when we have too much on our plates or too much pressure in our personal, professional, or emotional lives. Reducing maxed out schedule, reducing overly high expectations of ourselves, scheduling in down time (not on TV or devices) will make a big difference. Also scheduling in time to quietly and in a relaxed meditative way to tidy home and get organized will take pressure off the systems and literally clean the “waterways” within and without.
- Emotion
Our bodies have waterways much like a city has waterways. In our bodies, these waterways are the lymphatic system, vascular system, large and small intestines, kidneys, bladder, and sinuses. In a city they are canals, water reservoirs, sewage system , and water that comes through the city to our homes. When our waterways overflow, some of us get allergy symptoms. These waterways can be flooded with debris such as inflammatory hormones, undigested foods, chemical irritants, pollution, allergens such as from plant or pet, or they can flood from unresolved emotion. This unresolved emotion can be recent or very old, and can show as anxiety, anger, stress, grief, repressed emotion, and self imposed pressures such as high expectation, guild or self criticism. Notice if there may be emotional energy that wants to be resolved or expressed. Notice if something old or new is held in the heart. Notice how long it has been since you last cried. Crying releases and resolves emotional energy in a natural and healthy way. If tears have been held for too long, they may find their way to clean through an allergy attack through the eyes, nose, or lungs. They may also get stuck in the face or sinuses if they are not authentically and honestly expressed. Sometimes we are so used to being full of emotional energy that we do not realize that it is full. If none of the other 6 points listed here are the main problem, this could be a place to start. It is very rare that this point is not an important aspect for all of us who suffer from allergies.
- Spiritual
This may or may not require help from a healer.
In adults self love and self acceptance, patterns of insufficiency, highly critical or self critical or self deprecating thoughts and beliefs. If you relate to these patterns, addressing them will very likely reduce or eliminate allergies. It is unique for each person but this is common.
In children, the family can help by creating order in the home. Rhythms with meals and bedtime, presence practices of both parents if they are both in the home. If one parent does all the emotional energy and caretaking while the other is emotionally unavailable is physically present but not grounded, there may be allergies or frequent colds. Balancing the parents dynamic may help. Tidy and uncluttered home. Warm healthy meals and regular times as best as possible. The rhythm and grounded mess help the child’s immune and nervous systems.
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