Around twenty to fifty percent of Americans struggle with seasonal allergies around springtime, with the rise of pollen in the air directly impacting respiratory patterns. Figuring out how to sleep better while you struggle to breathe normally can be a challenge.
Getting to know common strategies and practices that can help minimize the impact of your allergies on your sleep is in your best interest. Trouble sleeping can often read to irritability, lower energy, and less productivity, which can in turn exacerbate some of the milder symptoms of seasonal allergies.
Optimizing your bedroom and sleep hygiene habits can go a long way in transforming your sleep through allergy season. From finding a memory foam mattress that is both comfortable and sniffle-proof, to using the right types of medication, here are our top tips and tricks when it comes to balancing your sleep through this time:
Tip #1: Maintaining Your Mattress For Optimum Sleep Hygiene
When it comes to optimizing your bedroom, your bed is a great place to start. Though it’s common knowledge you need to wash your bedsheets pretty regularly, what’s less known is that even the best mattresses require some thorough maintenance. If you aren’t vigilant about how often you clean and maintain your bed, you’re likely to experience more rather than fewer allergy symptoms.
Whether you have a memory foam mattress or more traditional spring, over the years your bed can trap varying amounts of external debris, such as dust mites, pet dander, and yes, even pollen, which can in turn cause a reaction and lead to trouble sleeping.
If you own a memory foam mattress that is older than eight years, you’ll need to replace it. You’ll also need to clean your memory foam mattress at least twice a year to ensure you’re keeping it as hygienic as possible, though for those who suffer from allergies, it’s recommended you bump this up to as much as once every quarter.
Every bed has it’s own particular requirements when it comes to clean up – memory foam mattresses for instance can’t be cleaned with water. In this case, it tends to be easier to use a damp cloth and vacuum for memory foam mattresses.
The best mattress for those with trouble sleeping should, it goes without saying, be naturally hypoallergenic for your convenience. The best mattresses for allergy sufferers will also be engineered with ease of maintenance in mind, though if you want to invest in additional tools, such as mattress protectors, this will only help.
Tip #2: Keeping Your Pets Out Of Your Bedroom
As tempting as it might be to let your loving pup or kitten cuddle up beside you during bedtime, their fur can trap pollen, dust, and other aggravating debris that have the potential to make your symptoms worse.
This is especially true for those who have pets who spend the bulk of their time outdoors. Even indoor animals tend to attract and trap a lot of external debris in their fur. If you’re the type of person who has trouble sleeping without your pet, certain precautions can help you manage their disturbance and help you sleep better.
This includes investing in a mattress protector that you can wash on a more regular basis to help keep things clean and mite-free. You may also wish to switch to a memory foam mattress since their motion-isolating capabilities mean you won’t wake up in the middle of the night due to sudden movements.
If you are looking for ways to sleep better through allergy season, keeping your pets out of your bedroom completely will help minimize the risk of you getting the sniffles right before bedtime, and have you much better disposed to sleep better.
Tip #3: Finding A Calming Nighttime Routine To Sleep Better
If you are looking to sleep better, you’ll want to assess your sleep hygiene patterns overall. Stress can actually contribute to a worsening of allergies, according to research, so ensuring you’re getting into bed feeling relaxed and primed for a good night’s sleep is essential.
There are plenty of calming practices that might better prepare you for a good night’s sleep. These include meditation, a little nighttime yoga, or putting other rituals right before bedtime into place, such as a warm shower or hot cup of tea before bedtime. Some allergy medication might have active components that disrupt your body clock, so remember to ask your pharmacist if you do plan on taking anything to help with your sleep.
Different rituals work for different people, so remember that your first couple of attempts to sleep better is going to be a process of trial and error. Eucalyptus oil has had particular success with those who suffer from allergies, so choosing to lightly mist your memory foam mattress with the scent or using scented candles can also help.
Finding a way to sleep better when you have allergies can feel difficult – from learning how to clean your memory foam mattress to keeping your cuddly pets out your bedroom, it definitely takes a little time and practice to get these habits feeling normal. Once you do have these systems in place, however, your trouble sleeping will soon be a fact of the past. Hello springtime, goodbye sniffles.