Hay fever affects our personality

Hay fever also depends on the personality

04/12/2015

The fact that the psyche plays an essential role in many physical illnesses has been scientifically proven in numerous studies. Now a study from England shows that there is also a connection between personality and hay fever. Pollen allergy sufferers are therefore emotionally a little more unstable, anxious and conscientious than others.

Some get hay fever - others do not
Bleeding and itchy eyes, sneezing attacks and stuffy nose: The hay fever season has begun, and the first birch pollen has been in the air for a while. According to the German Allergy and Asthma Association (DAAB), about 16 percent of the population - about 13 million people - suffer from pollen allergy and hay fever nationwide. If the pollen of trees, shrubs, grasses, cereals and herbs touch the mucous membranes of those affected, allergic reactions are triggered. In some people, the affliction begins in childhood and persists into adulthood. Others get the allergy only when they grow up. As with other diseases, research has shown that mental processes can influence the disease process. Now an English study shows that other factors are important as well.

Pollen allergy dependent on personality
Like the British researchers around Helen Cheng from University College in London in the trade magazine „Journal of Health Psychology“ Personality plays a role, whether hay fever occurs at all or not. In their study of more than 5,700 participants who had followed them for more than 50 years, the researchers found that barely six percent of all children suffered from hay fever, but in adults it rose to 14 percent. As the „Berlin morning mail“ It was reported that hay fever was the most important factor in childhood when researchers tried to predict hay fever in adulthood. However, the personality traits were immediately followed by emotional lability and conscientiousness.

Conscientiousness increases hay fever risk
The scientists assume that emotional lability is also likely to cause more stress and stress than other people. Surprisingly, however, conscience also increases the risk of hay fever. This personality trait is classically more likely to protect against illnesses. However, it may also help to make them more likely to live in hygienically very clean conditions, which can promote the development of hay fever, as shown in older studies. As the paper also notes, earlier research has shown that people with hay fever are more anxious than others, and that the reported severity of symptoms is more due to the focus on physical processes than to the specific defense response of the immune system. Other health experts also point out that also heredity and substances in the ambient air, which irritate the respiratory tract, can contribute to the development of an allergy. Therefore, for example, children who grow up with smoking parents have an increased risk of developing pollen or other allergies. (Ad)

Picture: Günther Richter