How To Tell What’s Triggering Your Allergies At Home

Home is where the heart is, but it may also be the cause of your uncomfortable allergies. This can be frustrating, especially when all you want to do is relax after a long day at work. Figuring out what’s triggering your allergies at home is often easier said than done.

You can find out what’s triggering your allergies at home by keeping track of how specific rooms, cleaning products, and appliances affect you. From there, you can identify problematic areas, identify mold, and reduce dust. Don’t rule out your HVAC system, as deferred maintenance can create conditions that trigger allergies.

Follow along as we explore how to tell what’s triggering your allergies at home.

How Do I Figure Out What I’m Allergic To At Home?

1. Log Your Symptoms

One way o tell what’s triggering your allergies at home is to log your symptoms. Pay attention to your surroundings and document circumstances that correspond with how you feel. Create a journal entry if you get an allergic reaction when your air conditioner runs.

The same applies to any room, product, chemical, or object in your home. By logging your symptoms and what they correlate with, you can narrow your search for the unpleasant triggers in your home. However, be aware that a correlation doesn’t always equal causation.

2. See How You Feel In The Morning

Dust mite allergies are more common than many people even realize, but it’s easy to overlook them as a possible cause for your allergies at home, especially if you only get into bed right before sleeping. Pay attention to how you feel in the morning to determine if dust mites may be triggering your allergies. These tiny mites are attracted to beds because of the presence of dead skin flakes and dust, which they feed on.

Bedding often retains heat and moisture, which help dust mites thrive, eat, and reproduce. If your allergies are worse when you go to sleep or wake up, but improve after you leave the bedroom, dust mites may be the cause. Regularly washing bedding is the best way to keep dust mites at bay. It also helps to run a dehumidifier and buy allergen-proof sheets, blankets, and pillowcases.

3. Pay Attention While Cleaning

Cleaning your home may trigger your allergies. so it's a good idea to pay attention while doing this household chore. You may clean your kitchen and not experience a runny nose, sneezing fit, or coughing. But if vacuuming and changing your bedding causes problems, you will know something is triggering your allergies in your bedroom.

While cleaning, inspect each room to see where dust collects most densely. You’re less likely to have problems if you don’t let dust build up excessively. This is also important for pet owners, as dog and cat hair often lands in unexpected places.

4. Inspect Your Chemical Cleaners

Many homeowners have cabinets and shelves stocked with chemical products to cleanmirrors, windows, showers, tubs, toilets, and countertops. These commercial cleaners are useful, but they can also take a toll on your health in many ways. They often contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as toluene, benzene, methylene chloride, and acetone. VOCs can easily cause uncomfortable symptoms, worsen your allergies, and irritate your lungs.

This can be dangerous if you have respiratory problems, such as asthma, COPD, and emphysema. Even your favorite candles and room sprays may contain VOCs and trigger your allergies. However, it's not difficult to find non-VOC or VOC-light commercial products. Carefully read the ingredients list before buying cleaning products, candles, and room sprays.

5. Check The Humidity

Many people don’t think too much about indoor humidity until they realize how much it affects their allergies. High humidity or excessive dryness can trigger allergies at home, so you must find a balance. Hygrometers measure airborne moisture to help you identify humidity problems throughout your home. Humidity can vary widely between rooms due to insulation, house design, sunlight, and your HVAC system.

Certain behaviors, like showering without running the fan, can also increase your home’s humidity. Purchase several hygrometers if you have a big home with many rooms. If the humidity exceeds 50%, that could explain why your allergies are so bad at home. Similarly, humidity below 30% can cause dry skin, dry eyes, and nasal irritation. Use a dehumidifier to keep the humidity between 30% and 50%.

6. Test For Mold

Mold can be elusive, at least at first, however, it spreads through spores that travel through the air and land on different surfaces. Looking for mold patches can help you identify allergy triggers, but you should also test the air. Mold often grows in laundry rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, basements, and attics.

Visually inspect these rooms, treat mold when you find it, and improve ventilation as needed. Poor ventilation and high humidity often encourge mold growth. You can find DIY mold test kits that test the air for spores, and they’re quite effective. However, a mold remediation specialist has more effective test kits and can also remove the mold.  

7. Check Your Air Filter

Air filters are the unsung heroes of HVAC systems, and many people neglect them. Air filters capture contaminants, like dust and pet dander, to protect your air ducts. Once these filters become dirty, they can’t adequately protect your HVAC system from dirt, dust, debris, and other contaminants.

This can explain what’s triggering your allergies at home, and why you must regularly replace the air filter. Change your air filter every 30 to 90 days to keep your allergies under control and improve your home’s air quality.

Replacing it can also reduce the strain on your HVAC system and lower your bill. That alone is worth keeping a few extra air filters on hand for easy replacement.

8. Get Ductwork Inspected

Replacing an air filter is easy, but not everyone can inspect or clean air ducts. HVAC ductwork delivers air, throughout your home and all the contaminants that come with it. It’s recommended that you get your air ducts cleaned every 3-5 years, but not everyone does that.

Hire an HVAC service to inspect and clean your air ducts if you’ve exceeded the 3-5-year window. Not only will this improve your home’s indoor air quality, but it will also make your HVAC system run more efficiently. This is a great way to reduce your allergies at home while also maximizing efficiency and lowering your bills.

Summing It Up

The best way to tell what’s triggering your allergies at home is to log your symptoms and narrow down the list of possible causes. Pay attention to how certain rooms, products, devices, and appliances affect you at home. Doing so will help you identify what’s triggering your allergies, and you can adjust accordingly.

Related Guides:

• Six Signs Of Poor Indoor Air Quality
• Why Is My Home Air Quality Bad? How Can I Improve It?