If you are an allergy sufferer, you already know that stressful situations can cause an allergy flare up. A 2008 study conducted by researchers at Ohio State University describes recent experiments that tried to gauge just how psychological stress affects allergy sufferers. Studying allergies, allergen avoidance, and asthma is becoming more and more important. According to the OSU press release, allergic reactions are the fifth most common chronic disease in America, and the medical costs to treat allergies approaches $3.4 billion dollars yearly.

The most interesting aspect of this study for me is that the researchers found that many allergy sufferers had a delayed reaction to the increased stress level. In some cases, allergy symptoms did not show up until the next day. We often take medications for immediate allergy relief, but the medication might be ineffective if symptoms do not appear immediately. This next day symptom change often is called a “late phase reaction.” For more information on the research methods and the findings, check out this OSU press release.