How Does Someone Become Allergic?

By Emmanuel Chukwu

Do you sometimes feel like your eyes are itchy and watery? Do you sometimes sneeze and cough even though you do not have a cold? These reactions are normally caused by allergies. What are allergies? They are reactions of the body against certain substances. Some people are allergic to food items such as nuts, milk and eggs. Some are allergic to bites of insects such as bees and ants. Some are allergic to certain elements in the air such as dust, pollen and smoke. Some are allergic to certain medications such as antibiotics and penicillin. Others are allergic to chemicals found in some soaps, cosmetics or cleaning materials.

One thing that makes people wonder is how someone gets allergies. How do they develop? Why do some people have them? There are many factors but in this article, we are only going to discuss the most common and obvious ones.

Allergies are hereditary. This is what many people believe. If one person in your family has a certain allergic reaction to some substances, you are likely to have the same reaction when you are exposed to that particular substance. By family, it does not only involve your parents but also your grandparents, great grandparents and other blood relatives. This is one of the most uncontrollable factors since there is no way for people to alter your genes and remove this genetic factor.

Allergies develop as people age. Some scientists believe that certain allergies develop through time especially if you are exposed to the same allergen over and over again. For instance, there have been immigrants who were originally not allergic to pollens. However, since they have stayed for a long time in a place where a lot of pollens thrive, their bodies have developed hay fever.

Allergic reactions depend on your immune system's health. Your immune system's main role is to protect your body from harmful substances. Whatever it thinks is harmful for you will be attacked. However, when your immune system is not working well, it becomes out of control. As a result, it may attack even the healthy cells in your body. This is often called as autoimmune disease. Allergic reactions may also happen when your body produces too many antibodies at a given time.

Allergic reactions depend on your environment. The place where you stay most of the time matters a lot. If that place has a lot of allergens such as pollutants and pollens, your immune system will always have to produce antibodies to fight the harmful substances thus leading to allergic reactions. In the same way, very clean environments can make your immune system weaker because it is not exposed to anything. When it finally gets exposed even to little amount of allergens, it might break down and be out of control.