Why is it that the body finds harmless substances, like pollen or animal dander, harmful? This article is intended to explain how allergies develop in children and what to do in order to prevent them.
Why Do We Get Allergies?
Allergies are often developed in childhood. Both genetics and environmental factors are factors contributing to 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 used to it in childhood when the immune system is developing. The development of the immune system, therefore, requires exposure to allergens. If you live in clean environment as a child you may not get enough exposure to allergens. This is why it might be that children should not be made to avoid possible allergens all the time. But it must be noted that if the allergy has already developed and has strong symptoms, it is necessary to avoid the allergen.
Clean or Dirty Home?
It has been found that people who grew up in farms are less likely to suffer from allergies. It might be 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 dirty homes are healthier.
How to Avoid Allergies in Children?
It would still not be advisable that you make your home dirty just to expose children to as many allergens as possible. Doctors often recommend a middle ground between a dirty home and overly hygienic one. This means that the best environment for a growing child is something in which she can have some degree of allergen exposure. Therefore, you can have a clean home, just as long it is not completely allergy proof. It must be borne in mind, though, that this method can only work if the possible allergy has not yet been developed.
