If you suffer from hay fever or allergies and are looking for natural home remedies, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got the five best natural home remedies for hay fever relief that are proven to keep the symptoms at bay and may even help prevent ongoing nasal explosions.

That being said, consult your doctor if symptoms persist.

1. Make Water your Best Friend

Water is the elixir of life. It flushes your kidneys, improves your digestion, and keeps you hydrated. And hydration is important for breaking away tough mucus buildup in your nasal passageways which tends to lead to a runny nose. As Healthline explains:

“[Staying hydrated] ensures that mucus in your sinuses thins out to a runny consistency and is easy for you to expel. Otherwise, it may be thick and sticky, which congests the nose even further.”

This also means it’s best to avoid things that can dehydrate you like alcohol, sugary drinks and coffee.

As well as drinking it, water can also relieve those itchy, puffy eyes. Simply soak a face cloth in cold water and lay it over your face. It’s also recommended to shower in the evening to wash away pollen and other particles.

2. Use an Air Purifier

During the summer, we tend to leave the windows open and doors ajar to keep the house cool. But this can easily lead to an increase in dust and pollen hovering inside your home. You can see them floating in the sun rays beaming through your windows.

The best remedy for this is an air purifier. It’s designed to suck in dust particles and trap them, leaving the air in your home purified and far less likely to exacerbate your already ongoing hay fever symptoms.

3. Add Ginger to your Diet

Ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory ingredient and antihistamine. This means it can remedy the irritations inside your nasal passageways and lower the chances of allergic reactions. In short: it’s a wonderful natural remedy for hay fever.

Add fresh ginger to your next home-cooked meal or stir shavings of it into your next hot tea. It’s important to use fresh ginger because many pre-made products, like ginger beer, tend to have minimal amounts of ginger or they use artificial ginger flavours. Otherwise, you can always look to T2’s natural Just Ginger Loose Leaf Tea.

4. Invest in a Neti Pot

Hay fever is caused by pollen and dust seeping into your nasal passageways and irritating the pipes inside. So it makes complete sense to flush them out! This is where a Neti Pot comes in handy, offering an easy way to squeeze salty lukewarm water through each nostril, adding moisture to help break up mucus and evict unwanted particles.

You can buy one at your local chemist.

A word of warning: some water can remain inside after flushing. Be sure to carry a bunch of tissues with you, as they will come in handy when your nose goes all Niagara Falls on you. We’re speaking from experience.

5. Keep your House Clean

Having an air purifier is great and all, but this won’t help you if your house is cluttered or not properly cleaned. An untidy house could easily be teeming with dust.

WebMD offers some great house cleaning tips for hay fever sufferers. These include: vacuuming regularly with a HEPA filter; removing unwanted boxes and clothing; use damp cloths, and wear a mask when you clean. The trick is to remove as much dust from your home as possible.

Cardboard boxes could be a major culprit, which is why we recommend cutting them up outside the house. Also, damp cloths help trap dust better than dry or wrung-out cloths.