better breathing Archives | Better Innovations

Tips to avoid pollen allergies this spring

April 20, 2011 By NYAllergist

Some tips on how to avoid pollen allergies with the arrival of warm weather and spring. The longer days and pleasant breezes blow pollen from blooming flowers causing a mixed reaction for those with allergies. We live in a green world, filled with trees, plants and shrubs it’s difficult to avoid pollen allergies.

There are ways to minimize the reactions and survive pollen allergies. Pollen is an invisible nuisance that comes from everyday sources around us. Once it reaches our sinuses and eyes it will trigger an allergic reaction. Talk with a New York allergist about the tools of survival; facial masks, over the counter medications, pets, outdoor activities and personal hygiene.

Clean House

Take control and minimize the pollen count in your own home first. Spring clean the windows, air conditioning vents, replace vent screens and remove dust. Pets carry pollen on their coats from outside; keep them bathed to remove pollen. Same applies to visitors who may transport pollen on their clothing or in their hair. Change bedding weekly and do the laundry inside, no clotheslines allowed during the allergy season. Learn more about pollen carriers and how to prevent, control and eliminate the pollen exposure.

Clumps of yellow pollen on a flower head. — Image via Wikipedia

Pollen Peaks

Findthe pollen count in your area and when it peaks and know which pollen causes an allergic reaction. At peak time stay indoors, close the windows and use recycled air and be prepared with treatments for allergy reactions. Going outside, wear a mask for protection, change your clothing when you return home and wash your hands.

Allergy Treatments

Avoiding pollen allergies may be difficult, but controlling the amount of exposure to allergy pollen is possible. Treatments range from pills, inhalant sprays and shots to strengthen immune systems against pollen allergies. In some cases these treatments may not eliminate the allergies, but they will lessen the allergy symptoms. Consult with an allergist for the best remedy.

We would like to thank Marc for the guest post above. We have provided relief to thousands with our Air Oasis and IQAir air purifiers, available on our Better Health Innovations Site. Find our how these incredible technologies can help you have a great summer by minimizing airborne allergens.

Flowers for hay fever sufferers

April 12, 2011 By Jess

Giving a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers to someone who suffers from hay fever might sounds like a cruel trick to play but actually not all flowers will cause an allergic reaction. Hay fever isnâ€™t an allergy to flowers. Itâ€™s an allergy to the pollen that some flowering plants produce. Thatâ€™s why most people only have problems in spring and early summer when there are a lot of pollen-producing flowers around. [Read more…]

Air Purifiers: How to Choose.

February 27, 2010 By Lesley

Air pollution is just another one of those problems we’ve learned to live with, but it’s not so bad. After all, these days most people don’t spend much time outside. Right? So what’s the problem?
It’s true that the average person spends 90% of their life indoors, but it isn’t true that indoor air is fine and dandy. Indoor air is recycled air and no matter how clean your home is, it is filled with assorted forms of contamination, from dust particles to tiny [Read more…]

Improve Breathing Performance: Our PowerLung Experience and Review

August 18, 2009 By betterinnovations

Everyone knows the feeling of difficulty in breathing during exercise, competitive sports, or any intense effort. It stands to reason that if you could increase your breathing performance, thereby increasing oxygen intake, that you could dramatically increase performance in virtually everything you do.

For years I had looked for a product that would increase my endurance and lung capacity. I had tried several breathing exercises that helped somewhat, but I canâ€™t really say that it was noticeable. Then I happened along a product called PowerLung. They claim that this device can increase lung capacity and oxygen intake by more than 25%. While I was somewhat doubtful, I gave it a try.

I found that PowerLung exercises your lung muscles. Just like any other muscle in your body, your lung muscles can be worked and strengthened. To do this, you have to work against resistance (just like weight lifting). PowerLung allows you to adjust resistance both in the inhale and exhale, which works all your lung muscles. Over time, I was able to increase the resistance, just like increasing weight when you are weight lifting. At the same time, I experienced a very noticeable improvement in my breathing. I really noticed improvement when playing basketball.

Iâ€™m an amateur athlete, but I put the bread on the table by managing an ecommerce company. So naturally, after launching PowerLung on our sites, I went looking for competing products to offer as well. What I found was that these products (Expand-a-Lung, SportsBreather, UltraBreather, etc) were like sucking/blowing through a straw. These were basically restrictive breathing devices (like a straw). My background is in engineering, and I realized that with these products you do not actually move anything except air. The formula for work is: Work = Force x Distance. If you are not moving anything, then there is no work. If there is no work, there is no muscle building! With a PowerLung, on the other hand, you are moving something a distance with the force from your lung muscles. That may not be the best technical explanation, but I know that the best way to build my biceps is by doing curls with a dumbbell or on a home gym: moving an object a distance (work). Same for building lung muscles, you must move something some distance. PowerLung is the only device Iâ€™ve seen that can do this.

In the past couple years we have sold PowerLung to professional athletes, asthma sufferers, pick-up basketball players, people looking to quite smoking, yoga professionals, musicians, people needing help getting around the house without getting out of breath, and more. PowerLung is truly a product that can benefit virtually anyone.

Click here to see the entire PowerLung Line on Amazon!