Why is it that the body finds harmless substances, like pollen or animal dander, harmful? This article is intended to explain how allergies develop and how this is related to the hygiene hypothesis.
Why Do We Get Allergies?
Allergies are often developed in childhood. Both genetics and environmental factors play a part in this. If your parents are suffering from allergies, you are more likely to be affected. The development of allergies is often dependant on what you are exposed to as a child. Therefore, if you are exposed to different allergens, like dust or hay, in your childhood, you are less likely to suffer from allergies later in life.
The Hygiene Hypothesis
According to this theory, your body learns to tolerate the allergen when it becomes exposed to it in childhood when the immune system is developing. The development of a healthy immune system, therefore, requires exposure to allergens. If you live in an excessively clean environment as a child, as people in modern cities often do, you may not get enough exposure to allergens.
Allergies and Parasites
Another factor related to the hygiene hypothesis is infection by parasites such as worms. Worms are involved with suppressing immune system responses to allergens. This is why studies have found that people with parasites have fewer allergies than non infected people.
Are Cities Bad for Health?
It has also been found that people who grew up in farms are less likely to suffer from allergies than people living in cities. It has been suggested that the exposure to allergens that people in farms get, with the animals and the surrounding nature, helps in developing resistance to allergies. Therefore, it might be that overly clean homes are not the best environment for children to grow up in. Therefore, it might actually be that environment that have a certain level of allergens, are healthier for children to grow up in, than homes that are excessively clean.
