5 Herbal Remedies For Common Summer Allergies

Summer is just around the bend, and some of us are already feeling the aggravation and inflammation of the season’s allergens. Pharmaceuticals offer an imperfect solution at best; not only do they fail to address the underlying causes of allergies, but they come with a host of side-effects that can make them far from worthwhile.

They’re not exactly holistic or ecologically/biologically harmonious, either.

Luckily, there are some other remedies and preventative measures to keep your allergies at bay and help you enjoy the summer sunshine without the itching, swelling, and free-flowing fluids.

Local Honey

This one’s widely known and hotly debated. The thinking goes like this: seasonal allergies are caused by pollen. Honey is made from pollen. There’s evidence that mild exposure to allergens helps build a healthy response to those allergens, so eating local honey should help prevent allergic reactions to local pollens.

Getting all the right pollens into your honey can be a problem, though, especially in the doses needed for a major effect. Still, local honey has many other virtues, and if it might help your allergies then we see no harm.

Stinging Nettle

Nettle teas, poultices, and infusions have long been a standard of traditional folk medicine, and modern science is beginning to understand why. The same chemical properties of the plant’s fine bristles that cause healthy tissue to feel pain can also help relieve pain and inflammation in damaged or aggravated tissue.

Simply put, through a cascade of chemical reactions the stinging nettle can disrupt feelings of itchiness and block histamine build-up, weakening allergic reactions and tempering one of the most annoying symptoms.

Here is one way to gather and make your own nettle tea:

Stinging Nettles can also be used in juices, click here to learn more.

Bromelain

Found abundantly in pineapple and also naturally occurring in a variety of other fruits and herbs, bromelain is a protein digesting enzyme that can reduce inflammation and swelling. This works its magic not only on muscle tissue but also on the membranes and connective tissues that often become inflamed as an allergic response.

Remove the inflammation, remove the allergic reaction. Bromelain’s been helping allergy prone bros enjoy their summers for centuries, and now it’s more readily available than ever.

Quercetin

Quercetin is another naturally occurring anti-inflammatory found in grapes (and red wine!), grapefruit, onions, black tea, and many other foods and herbs. In addition to helping reduce the inflammation that caused many symptoms of allergic reactions, quercetin is a relatively powerful and completely natural anti-histamine, and can help ward off allergic reactions altogether.

Throw in the fact that it’s also a proven antioxidant and anti-carcinogen, and quercetin should definitely make it on any short list of summer supplements.

Tinospora cordifolia

Last but certainly not least, Tinospora cordifolia has been recognized both by practitioners of traditional medicine and by the research methods of modern science. It improves the functioning of macrophages in eliminating foreign bodies from the bloodstream without acting as an immuno-stimulant.

Allergic reactions are the result of immune systems that are over stimulated by harmless foreign bodies; Tinospora cordifolia helps your body clear away what it sees as “intruders” without aggravating things still further.

This list of herbal and other natural remedies for your summertime allergies isn’t exhaustive, but we hope you’ve found it a good place to start. Find out what works best for your body and your allergies, and keep your system healthy and ready to enjoy the outdoors without the need for perpetual pill popping.

Know anyone else with allergies? Share this article and help your friends enjoy an allergy free summer!