With allergy season well under way, sufferers will be busy stocking up on medication and supplies to help relieve their symptoms. But it’s not just hay fever symptoms that strike in the spring and summer months. The increase in pollen can affect asthmatics, with the release of pollen from trees as early as January causing a bevy of uncomfortable symptoms. Hay fever caused by a pollen allergy is extremely common. According to Asthma UK, 80% of those with asthma say their symptoms are triggered by the presence of pollen.
Although you may find it easier to manage troublesome asthma symptoms at home during periods of high pollen, most don’t have the luxury of staying indoors. However, it is possible to manage and relieve symptoms at work, leaving you to get on with the job in hand.
Improve indoor air quality
When working in an office environment, ensuring high indoor air quality isn’t just a matter of increasing comfort and productivity. It’s also about improving health and safety throughout your workplace. Without the right ventilation or air conditioning, the quality of the air employees breathe in is likely to be very low, triggering a range of symptoms for asthma sufferers. The Asthma Initiative of Michigan (AIM) explains why resolving indoor air quality problems is important, particularly for asthma sufferers:
Not only can poor indoor air quality make the symptoms of someone who already has asthma worse, but it may also play a role in the development of asthma in more susceptible people, like small children. In addition, some people with asthma may be more sensitive to certain indoor air triggers than other people with asthma are. To help you find out what these asthma triggers are, people with asthma often keep a written record of their activities. Writing down what they were doing, and where, whenever there are symptoms will help to find out if being near certain things causes the asthma symptoms.
Get some help from your employer
Relieving your asthma symptoms at work isn’t something you can do alone. Getting a helping hand from your employer to enhance your workplace and improve indoor air quality will not only help you but help others who suffer in silence too.
There are many ways in which employers can improve indoor air quality and help employees suffering from asthma. Upgrading your air conditioning system is just one way to tap into a number of health benefits throughout the work space. Recognising triggers and making changes as soon as possible to prevent or reduce exposure to these triggers is also something you can do as an individual.
Be prepared for the worst
Unfortunately, without the correct management of symptoms, your asthma can worsen, putting you at risk of an asthma attack. Speaking to your boss and colleagues about what they can do in the event of an asthma attack will provide peace of mind. Having your reliever inhaler with you at all times when at work is important. Many asthma sufferers also carry a written asthma action plan for use in an emergency.
