EndurElite Chief Endurance Officer discusses tips, strategies, and supplements that can help runners, cyclists, OCR, and other endurance athletes combat seasonal allergies.

Video Transcription:

Whoa, wee, chickadee. Good morning, family of fast. Matt Mosman, the Chief Endurance Officer over at EndurElite. I don't know about you all, but seasonal allergies are kicking my ass right now. I constantly have a runny nose. My skin is all itchy that I just wanna peel it off. And my eyes are watering all the time, but that may be due to watching "The Notebook" 24/7 because it's such an awesome movie. But today, we're gonna talk about a few tips and tricks, and some supplements you can take to kinda help keep seasonal allergies at bay. Now, a lot of these you've probably heard before, but maybe not so much on the supplement part. So, let's just delve right into it.

Tips And Strategies To Minimize Seasonal Allergies

As an endurance athlete, you probably have been told that if you have really bad seasonal allergies, you should watch the pollen count and try to exercise around when pollen counts are lowest. Now, I'm no gynecologist, so then I can't really predict the weather or just wait around for pollen counts to drop. So, that's really not an option for me to try to time pollen count.

On the same token too, they say, you know, run after a rainstorm because pollen is gonna be lower then. Again, I don't have time to look at the weather all day long and schedule my exercise around that.

They also say, you know, run with one of those little sawdust mask to help keep seasonal allergies at bay. I'm not gonna do that. I like to breathe and not look like Bane in the Batman movie.

And then, the last solution they usually offer is, you know, try to exercise later in the day since, you know, pollen count is higher in the morning. But that's not using an effective strategy either because depending on where you live, air pollution may be higher in the morning. So, you're kinda effed either way.

And then, I guess, the last option people say is, you know, you should exercise inside when the pollen is really, really bad, which it just sounds like a terrible idea. When it's nice outside, I wanna be outside and not be stuck on rollers or the dreadmill [SP].

So, you know, those tips and tricks you're commonly told about, you know, exercising outside when the pollen count is high and if you suffer from seasonal allergies, I mean, they're all good in theory but they're not too practical because you're either waiting around too long or you're wearing something on your face, or you're stuck inside, and none of those are really options for me at all.

Supplements for Allergies

So, let's go to some other options. Let's talk about a few different supplements that has some actually cool research behind it showing that it can help with symptoms of seasonal allergies or lessening those symptoms such as, you know, the nose running, the itchy eyes and skin, the sneezing, and all of that good stuff. And we're just gonna go over these real, real quickly. We're gonna say, you know, what they are, how much you should be taking, and that's about it.

So, the first one is Spirulina, and you wanna shoot for 2 grams a day of this. The second is called stinging nettle, and here, you're looking at about 200 to 350 milligrams 2 times a day. Third one is Rosmarinic acid which is an extract of rosemary, and that, you're looking at about 200 to 300 milligrams a day. Now, there's also some research that shows taking probiotics on a daily basis may also help with seasonal allergies as far as lessening them. And then, there's also a little bit a research showing that local honey may help with seasonal allergies, too.

What About Natural Allergy Remedies?

Now, outside of supplements, I've heard so many different things like natural remedies to help prevent seasonal allergies or to help make them better. You know, I've heard, for example, something like acupuncture. But the research really isn't there to support acupuncture as a way to improve seasonal allergies. And there's hundreds of thousands of other natural remedies out there and I'm not gonna say they don't work. And, you know, if they do work for you and you feel like it makes a difference with your seasonal allergies, definitely keep on doing them.

So, really the take-home point here is, you know, you can kind of incorporate some of those tips and tricks I mentioned in the beginning as far as when to exercise. When seasonal allergies are really bad, you can try those supplements that I recommended. But the caveat here is like there is research on them, but there's not a lot of them, and the research that does exist isn't overwhelmingly convincing, in my opinion.

The Best Thing You Can Do To Fight Seasonal Allergies

The best thing to do, in my opinion, and some of you aren't gonna like this, is to get Claritin Clear and taking, you know, the recommended dose about a month before seasonal allergies really start to kick up. I think, honestly, that's the best method to help kinda keep the season allergies at bay.

So, that is all I have today, my endurance friends. If you have a buddy that suffers from seasonal allergies, please share this video with them. If you want other videos like this on endurance training, supplementation, and nutrition, subscribe to our EndurElite YouTube channel or head on over to the EndurElite blog at www.endurelite.com. Get social with us on Instagram, in our EndurElite Training and Nutrition Club page on Facebook. And until next time, family of fast, stay fueled, stay focused, stay fast, and stay informed.