Getting ready for the tears and sneezes as sun begins to shine

The joy of spring sunshine can be blurred by tears. Not the tears of joy, more the tears of a mild allergic reaction. That and sneezing.

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Whilst the first day of sunshine is clean and pure, the trees are just as placed to see the sun as we are. They respond rapidly and the early growth leads to rapidly rising pollen levels. Plants have a whole cycle of life and rebirth to achieve in the months between now and Autumn. They are bursting.

For those of us who have allergies, the patterns are pretty reliable.

Allergy is a form of immune system reaction. It's coded for by part of our genetics. We inherit the immune system response from our parents.

The response is known as atopy. Whilst we inherit atopy, how we then express that is unique to each of us and our relationship to our environment.

It's likely that exposure to allergens at various points in time lead to sensitisation. Atopy can be expressed on our skin as eczema, or in our lungs as asthma.

It can lead to reactions to foods and more commonly it can lead to reactions to tiny proteins in the air - hayfever.