Hay Fever - Why The Sudden Rise?

What It’s Really Asking Us to Remember

Hay fever isn't new - but doesn’t it feel like suddenly, everyone is affected? People who never struggled before now sneeze, itch, and react through longer, harsher allergy seasons. So why the sudden rise?

It’s not just pollen floating on the air - it’s the ripple effect of how far we’ve drifted from what our bodies were designed for … this is the perfect storm of disconnection:

🌿 Immune System Overload:

Our bodies were designed to thrive on whole foods that are Earth-grown and seasonal. But with every packaged, processed, additive-laced product, we’re asking our biology to decode something unnatural. Over time, the immune system becomes confused, inflamed, and hypersensitive - responding not just to pollen, but to everything.

In a way, I was lucky that I grew up in a home with a sick nan and from a young age, I was taught that food is more than fuel - it’s medicine. Not in a trendy, modern wellness sense, but in the most natural, grounded way. The symbiotic union of a biological creature living on a biosphere way; knowing that the Earth provides everything our biology needs when we need it.

I was also lucky that I lived a married life abroad, close to my Kurdish villager in-laws and for 10 years I was surrounded by people who ate directly from the land. No packets. No forced produce. Just the rhythm of the seasons, the wisdom of ancestral diets, the deep knowing that our food comes with the Earth, not despite it. They ate by the natural cycle: food grown in season, harvested in time, prepared with care – just like we once did. Our bodies thrive in that rhythm.

But modern life pulls us away:

🌿 Ultra-processed foods that confuse the immune system.

🌍 Disconnection from soil, seasons, and the wild diversity of nature. All too many fast-paced, concrete jungles and sterilised environments, then of course, our bodies, which are meant to dance with microbes and soil, feel vulnerable and raw.

🌸 Disrupted climates forcing unnatural growing cycles. Forced growing seasons, disrupted pollination cycles - nature is out of step, and our bodies feel the imbalance.

✨ And for many, an awakening of sensitivity. That is not weakness, it is heightened awareness met with a body that has been overwhelmed by unnatural inputs. When the vessel is overwhelmed by synthetic inputs, that sensitivity can feel like suffering instead of strength.

The rise in hay fever? It’s not random. It’s a symptom of our disconnection.

But there is a way back.

It’s as simple as returning to real food, seasonal living, energetic grounding, and Earth-rooted practices. By doing this we can support the body to remember - to regulate, to feel strong and to thrive with sensitivity instead of suffering from it.

Here are a few ways to help ourselves through it -

• Physical Supports: Natural antihistamines (quercetin, nettle tea, local honey), supporting gut health, air purifiers at home. I also make my own house cleaners and have many (many) spider plants that clear the air of toxins.

• Energetic & Emotional Care: Grounding practices to settle the nervous system, visualisation to strengthen energetic boundaries, working with herbs like thyme or sage to clear both airways and energy fields. I burn thyme essential oil in the house, and I also add a few drops to my face moisturiser.

• Deeper Perspective: Framing this sensitivity not just as suffering, but as an invitation to reconnect with the Earth - to notice the cycles, tend the body, soften into our intuitive awareness.

So, let’s plug ourselves back into Mother Nature, after all, Mother knows best 😉