Hay fever is so common that 16 million people in the UK suffer from hay fever (one in every four).
Hay fever is so common because most people forget to eat right, which compromises their immune system.
According to present research, the most common cause of hay fever is pollen and dust allergies.
From the Ayurveda perspective, hay fever is the symptom of excess phlegm in the lungs, and pollen and dust are the triggers of hay fever. There is an uncanny similarity between hay fever symptoms and common cold symptoms.
If pollen were the cause of the hay fever symptoms, everyone would have been affected by it. However, only some are affected by hay fever because of the amount of phlegm and mucus in their lungs accumulated over the years.
Over accumulation of phlegm in the lungs is a sign of hot and cold imbalance in our body. To explain it further, based on Ayurveda, everything in this world has a hot and cold balance. The hot and cold balance in our body is maintained by the things we consume, the temperature we consume them at, and the kind of environment we live in.
Characteristically cold foods are rice, dairy, fruits, and anything made with these foods. Characteristically hot foods are turmeric, chili, cumin, and anything made with these foods. When we eat an excess of cold food, we must balance it with hot foods, which we miss out on. The imbalance also depends on the Prakriti we have (Vatta, Pitta, and Kapha). People with Kapha dosha are comparatively more vulnerable to hay fever than people with Vatta and Pitta dosha.
Pollen or dust aren’t characteristically dangerous. However, they affect us because when we encounter them, our body is already inflamed due to the excess generation of phlegm or saturated mucus in the lungs, causing hay fever symptoms.
