Can you be allergic to Christmas trees?

If you or your children get itchy or sniffly over the Christmas period, it might be due to a Christmas tree allergy.

What Causes a Christmas Tree Allergy?

If you use a real tree for your Christmas tree, it can increase the levels of pollen and mould in your home. Both of these are common allergens that can cause a number of problems, including:

• Breathing difficulties
• Tightness of chest
• Blocked or runny noses
• Coughs and sneezes
• Skin irritations

Dust is another cause of Christmas time allergies. Your Christmas tree itself can harbour dust. But so can your Christmas decorations.

Decorations are bound to pick up a lot of dust after you keep them in storage for a whole year. So when you take them out again, you’ll introduce a lot of dust into your home’s atmosphere. And once you hang them on the tree and around the home, you’ll create a lot more surfaces for dust to settle on.

Can You Be Allergic to Artificial Christmas Trees?

Artificial Christmas trees may not introduce mould and pollen to the home like real trees. But they can still harbour dust, which can trigger allergies. Also, some artificial Christmas trees are made from PVC. PVC can emit toxins into the air, which can lead to lung irritations.

How to Manage and Reduce Allergies at Christmas Time

Here are some tips for managing and reducing allergies at Christmas time:

• Choose your tree carefully. If you’re going for a real tree, avoid pine, as pine pollen can be a major allergy trigger. Instead, look for a fire, spruce, or cypress tree. If you’re going for an artificial tree, avoid PVC and instead look for polyethylene, or even an eco-friendly material such as metal or cardboard.
• Dust and shake. Give your real tree a shake before you take it inside, to remove any loose needles, dust, pollen or mould. Wipe down your artificial tree to remove any dust. And dust all your ornaments as soon as you take them out of storage. Also consider wrapping them in paper before you put them away, to reduce future dust build-up.
• Stay on top of things. Regularly dust and hoover around your Christmas tree and decorations, to reduce dust levels. Also avoid activities that might introduce further allergens into the air. For example, burning a wood fire, or even a scented candle, can introduce potentially harmful particles into your home’s atmosphere.
• Improve your indoor air quality. An air purifier can help remove particles from the air, including dust, mould and pollen, which are all associated with Christmas tree allergies. For more about how they work, you can browse our range of air purifiers for the home.

As we’ve seen that Christmas tree allergies are often caused by mould, dust, and pollen. If you suspect it could be a particular one of these, we also have dedicated guides for managing each of these allergies in your home:

• What does a dust mite allergy look like?
• Dealing with mould in the home.
• How to manage pollen allergies.

Manage the Air Quality in Your Home

Regular cleaning can address the dust that accumulates on the surfaces in your house. But allergens like mould and pollen are problematic because they circulate in your indoor air.

You could open a window to ventilate your rooms and allow the air to circulate. But that might not be an option in the cold winter months.

So instead, consider investing in an air purifier for your home.

Even a small HEPA filter can remove up to 99.97% of the most common household allergens, including mould, dust mites, pollen, pet dander, and even viruses and bacteria. A good air purifier can completely filter any room in your house once every 12.5 minutes, allowing you to breathe easy throughout the Christmas period and beyond.

Read our guide to improving the air quality in your home.

Also take the time to browse our range of air purifiers for the home.