Who doesn't love the sight of green buds forming on trees? Or lavender flowers blossoming everywhere? Springtime is always welcome when it arrives…but for a growing segment of people, allergies are a miserable side effect.

Seasonal allergies can occur because of the types of plants that are blooming and fertilising in a given area during a particular time of year. A person experiencing allergies may find themselves with a sniffling nose and watery, itchy eyes. But when is allergy season? And how should you prepare for those seasonal allergies hit?

Which Seasons Are Most Prone To Seasonal Allergies?

Naturally, the most common timeframe for seasonal allergies is during the 'pollen' months, meaning certain plants are pollinating to allow for fertilisation. While there isn't an exact month to pinpoint when seasonal allergies are worst, the most common months are these types of allergies are the worst, the most common months people will experience these types of alllergies are between March and September.

Which allergy you'll be hit with will depend on which pollen you are allergic to. So, that brings us to the question of the most common allergens. Pollen season looks different in different parts of the country. It largely depends on the plants that are native to your region. In the northern United States (US), for example, the three most common pollens are:

• tree pollen
• grass pollen
• weed pollen

Therefore, people allergic to tree pollen will experience symptoms from March through April. Those allergic to grass pollen experience symptoms from late May through July. People allergic to ragweed pollen experience symptoms in August and September.

Keep These Items In Your Toolkit To Battle Seasonal Health

Nasal sprays: While many allergy sufferers turn to antihistamines first, nasal sprays should be the primary daily treatment. Steroid nasal sprays reduce inflammation in the nasal passages, relieving congestion over time. However, they do not provide immediate relief and must be used consistently for several days or up to two weeks for full effectiveness.

Oral antihistamines: Antihistamines in liquid or pill form provide quick relief from seasonal allergy symptoms. For children with severe symptoms, combining antihistamines with a nasal spray can be even more effective. Non-sedating antihistamines such as cetirizine, levocetirizine, loratadine, and fexofenadine are preferred, as they start working within 30 minutes and offer relief for 24 hours. In contrast, diphenhydramine can cause drowsiness and lasts only six hours.

Eye drops: For itchy, watery eyes, allergy eye drops containing olopatadine can help prevent histamine release, the primary trigger for eye irritation. These drops are available in different concentrations, with higher doses recommended for children with severe symptoms. Natural tears and warm compresses can also provide soothing relief.

Beyond medications: If over-the-counter medications are not sufficient, allergy shots (immunotherapy) may be an option. While most health experts do not recommend allergy shots for children under five, school-age children and adolescents with persistent symptoms may benefit from desensitization therapy. Sublingual immunotherapy, approved for grass, weed, and dust mite allergies, offers another treatment alternative.

Weight loss has expanded beyond the traditional diet and exercise. While many continue with the traditional methods, others have switched to GLP-1 medications. Yet, there is a third group of people who are opting for this third option—weight loss patches. These transdermal patches claim to help you shed pounds by delivering fat-burning ingredients directly to your skin. However, experts caution that they may not be as effective—or safe—as advertised.

Dr Jorge Moreno, an internal medicine physician at Yale Medicine, warns that weight loss patches are not FDA-regulated, making it impossible to know exactly what's inside them. While some patches use transdermal absorption to bypass the digestive system, delivering ingredients like green tea extract or Japanese mint, the effectiveness of these products is still minimal.

What Is The Composition Of Weight Loss Patches?

These patches often contain ingredients like green tea extract, which may boost metabolism slightly, and green coffee bean extract, which can help reduce weight when consumed orally in larger doses over extended periods. However, there is little evidence that these ingredients work effectively through patches. Other common ingredients, such as Hokuto mint and bitter orange extract, have limited or no proven impact on weight loss.

Moreover, studies on weight loss patches are still in the early stages, with limited evidence supporting their efficacy in humans. A 2024 study published in the journal ACS Nano developed a biodegradable hyaluronic acid microneedle patch loaded with polydopamine nanoparticles and mirabegron. In obese mice, the patch promoted browning of white adipose tissue through mild photothermal therapy, resulting in approximately 22% weight loss after treatment. However, clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of weight loss patches in humans are lacking, and most claims are based on ingredients like garcinia cambogia and green coffee bean extract, which have shown minimal effects in oral form. Regulatory agencies, such as the FTC, have taken action against companies making unsubstantiated claims about these patches.

Weight Loss Patches Can Lead To Side Effects

The real concern, however, lies in the potential side effects. Dr Dina Peralta-Reich, an obesity medicine specialist, points out that these patches can cause nausea, headaches, and skin irritation. Worse, without regulation, there's no way to guarantee the safety or dosage of the ingredients, potentially leading to dangerous side effects.

Despite the hype around weight loss patches, health experts warn that these products won't lead to significant weight loss. A combination of consistent exercise and healthy eating is still the most reliable approach. Ultimately, while weight loss patches may seem tempting, experts recommend sticking to proven methods like balanced diets, exercise, and professional guidance from your doctor.

Ever wondered why we feel exhausted after work? Does your post-work schedule also encompass hours of endless scrolling? Do you also feel like lying on your couch and doing nothing? If yes, then you aren't alone. Thousands of people across the world feel the same. Many of them want to play with their pets, solve a puzzle or paint a portrait; however, as soon as they return from office, they feel a drain of energy.

As per experts, this end-of-day exhaustion is a specific kind of tiredness tied to the mental and emotional strain of work, not necessarily the tasks themselves, but the constant switching between demands, decisions and yes, meetings. Health experts describe it as something called cognitive fatigue.

Let's Understand What Exactly Is Cognitive Fatigue

Cognitive fatigue is the deterioration in the ability to effectively and focus effectively. It is primarily caused by prolonged mental work. Many workers might spend their days completing a lot of tasks that aren't urgent or necessary, but do create lots of vacuums of time and mental energy to respond to. Cognitive fatigue occurs when we make many more micro decisions in the day than we need to, and there are so many different touch points that grab our attention in an office. These could be noise, colleagues, phones, Slack or meetings.

Also, not moving our bodies can be more draining than moving them throughout the day, as our bodies are meant to move naturally. Therefore, people with sedentary jobs or back-to-back meetings with little time in between will be the ones most affected by this.

According to psychologists, cognitive fatigue may have multiple symptoms. Some indicators include the following:

• Difficulty concentrating and staying focused when performing tasks, making decisions, and following conversations
• A longer time is necessary to complete mental tasks that someone typically performs quickly
• Manifestation of forgetfulness and difficulty recalling information or events
• Reduced ability to solve complex problems or think critically
• Limited creativity
• More frequent mistakes

A new wave of tobacco products is rapidly gaining traction worldwide, but questions about their impact on health remain unanswered. Heated tobacco products, such as IQOS, Ploom, and glo, are being marketed as less harmful alternatives to traditional cigarettes. Unlike conventional cigarettes that burn tobacco, these devices heat it to produce a vapour rather than smoke.

Ben Taylor, an IT consultant and longtime smoker, was intrigued by IQOS, a pen-shaped electronic device developed by Philip Morris International (PMI). After struggling to switch to vaping, he found that heated tobacco products provided a closer experience to smoking without the unpleasant aftertaste of vaping. Taylor reported that his chronic cough vanished after switching, yet he remains uncertain about the potential long-term health effects.

Despite industry claims of reduced harm, health experts caution against accepting these products as safe alternatives. Epidemiologist Silvano Gallus, who has been monitoring the spread of heated tobacco in Italy, warns that they are often marketed to young adults through celebrity endorsements and influencer campaigns. PMI, Japan Tobacco International (JTI), and British American Tobacco (BAT) maintain that they target adult smokers, but concerns persist that heated tobacco products may serve as a gateway to smoking for non-smokers, particularly youth.

Research funded by tobacco companies suggests that heated tobacco emits fewer harmful compounds than cigarette smoke, yet independent studies reveal that these products still release dangerous toxins. For instance, chemical engineer Efthimios Zervas found that while some toxins were reduced, others, such as carbonyl methylglyoxal, were present in higher concentrations. Moreover, a 2024 study in Italy found that non-smokers who started using heated tobacco were 5.8 times more likely to transition to smoking cigarettes within six months.

Public health organisations, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), have expressed concerns about the potential for dual use, where smokers use both cigarettes and heated tobacco products. WHO also noted that heated tobacco products are marketed as cost-effective alternatives, potentially undermining efforts to reduce tobacco use.

As heated tobacco devices return to the US market in 2025, experts emphasise the need for robust, independent research to assess long-term health effects. Until then, they advise consumers to remain cautious and consider quitting tobacco use entirely.