The brutal heat the D.C. area has been experiencing can have many impacts on health, especially if you have asthma or allergies.
“Allergies and asthma…they often go hand in hand,” said Dr. Brian Yuen, a family medicine physician at Inova-GoHealth Urgent Care.
He said when a heat wave hits the area, the air can be dangerous.
“When it’s really hot outside, the air quality is actually worse. So it increases ozone levels in the air, small particulates in the air. The warm weather also triggers more pollen that’s released by the plants,” Yuen said.
He said when it comes to warmer weather, you would think that would make conditions, such as asthma, better. But not when it’s this hot.
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“In the wintertime, you get cold, dry air, and that can flare up asthma. So generally we say, ‘Oh, a humidifier will help.’ So in the summertime, sure, it’s really humid, and you would think that would help asthma. But it’s actually the combination of heat, in conjunction with the humidity, that causes issues with asthma. It just causes inflammation in the airways, causes constriction of the airways, and can cause asthma attacks, difficulty breathing,” he said.
What can you do to avoid making your allergies and asthma worse during this hot summer?
“Stay indoors. Keeping the windows closed. It’s best if you can be in an air-conditioned space that will obviously reduce the heat and help to regulate the humidity,” he said.
Yuen said using an air purifier inside could help. But it’s got to be a specific kind.
“You want to look for HEPA air filters. Those can reduce indoor allergens that may be coming from the outside,” he said.
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