Suffering from allergies, whether seasonal or year-round, can have a devastating effect on your physical and emotional health. You constantly have to deal with the lack of sleep, runny noses, and itchy skin– all of which can leave you feeling miserable.
If you’d like to keep allergy symptoms at bay, you may consider buying an air purifier. These helpful gizmos can be more beneficial than you might imagine when it comes to reducing some of your symptoms. Although some models are not cheap, the potential health and lifestyle improvements they bring could be worth the investment.
How Do Air Purifiers Work?
Air purifiers sanitize the air in a room. They have a relatively simple design: a fan that draws in air and a filtering system that may consist of one or two types of filters. Air pollutants and particulates are captured as air passes through the filter, and clean air is pushed back into the room.
Therefore, air purifiers give the room an air-cleaning boost by trapping and reducing airborne contaminants such as viruses and bacteria. In doing so, air purifiers have the potential to reduce people’s exposure to biological air pollutants by limiting the spread of harmful particles, germs, and allergens.
How Effective Is An Air Purifier For Allergy Symptoms?
Air purifiers assist in filtering out allergy-inducing particles from the air, as well as tiny pollutants that may have settled into your furniture, mats, walls, and floors. The key word here is “assist,” which means they cannot completely eliminate common allergy triggers. What they do is help improve overall air quality in your home, which in turn, should hopefully reduce some allergy symptoms.
For patients with allergic respiratory diseases, air purification is frequently recommended as a part of environmental improvement. 
That being said, there is little clinical evidence to substantiate that air purifiers directly help reduce allergies or respiratory symptoms. Some anecdotal reports exist, but there is very little hard evidence.
So does that mean air purifiers are not beneficial for people with allergies? Not necessarily. Air purifiers may ably assist, but they shouldn’t be expected to provide the initial defense against allergens, viruses, and bacteria. You should close windows, change your clothes when you come in from outside and practice proper hygiene, such as handwashing and taking a bath. You could significantly lessen allergy symptoms by following a careful and methodical approach coupled with a capable air purifier.
What to Look For In Air Purifiers
When deciding on the best air purifier for allergies, you should take several factors into account. The effectiveness of air purifiers may be determined by how well these elements are considered.
- Filter type. There are several filter types to consider, but a HEPA filter is the most recommended one. HEPA filters, under clinical observations, help reduce 99.97% of air contaminants by trapping anything under 0.3 microns in size. Pet dander and pollen, two of the most common allergens, measure 2.5 microns, so HEPA filters can handle them with relative ease.
- Room/Area Size. Air purifiers specifically mention the maximum area size that they can handle. Some models are smaller, have limited power, and may only be effective in smaller rooms. Other models are also highly portable, so you can move them around rooms depending on where you are staying. In any case, you’d want an air purifier that can handle the room sizes in your house to maximize its efficiency.
- Allergen-Removal Capabilities. Examine the airborne contaminants that your air purifier claims to filter out. In this case, ensure that the air purifier you choose can handle all types of allergens, from pet dander to pollen. It’s a bonus if it can quell unpleasant smells and smoke, both of which can trigger certain allergies.
- Clean Air Delivery Rate. CADR measures the air purifier’s effectiveness based on room size and the volume of clean air produced per minute. This indicates how well dust, pollen, and smoke, are eliminated from the air you breathe. The highest CADR rating for an air purifier is 450, but you should not choose anything less than 300.
- Ease of Use and Design. Aesthetics, portability, simplicity of setup, and Wi-Fi accessibility, are just a few things that fall under this category. You would want an air purifier that does not ruin a room’s decor or something ready to go at a touch of a button. People have different priorities, so figure out what’s yours.
Best Air Purifiers for Allergies
- Coway Airmega 250
With its four-stage filtration system, Coway’s Airmega 250 air purifier eliminates 99.99% of airborne contaminants, including the dreaded Sars-Cov-2 virus. Additionally, the Green True HEPA filter is better at getting rid of airborne allergens such as pet dander, pollen, and other pollutants.
Pros:
- Lightweight but can still cover 930 square feet
- Has an air filter indicator that tells you which filter to replace
- Can handle particles as small as 0.01 microns
- Minimalist style that blends seamlessly with any room decor
Cons:
- Insufficient tools for measuring air quality
- Loud fan
- YIOU Air Purifier
YIOU is a lesser-known brand, but when it comes to their air purifier, they deserve a pat on the back. It has a 3-stage advanced filtration system and a 360-degree True HEPA filter that effectively captures pollution coming from all angles. On top of that, the company claims that this air purifier could clean the air of pollutants in a 269-square foot room in under 10 minutes.
Pros:
- Can handle rooms of up to 547 square feet
- Aside from allergen removal, it is also reliable in smoke and odor elimination.
- Only weights 4.41 pounds
- Reasonably-priced
Cons:
- Can be loud at 80 decibels
- You may have to replace filters often.
- Levoit Core 200S Air Purifier
The Levoit Core 200S is a small, yet powerful air purifier designed for those who want a small unit but don’t want to sacrifice the smart features. (If you have a larger room and are sold on the Levoit technology, you can try the 300s, 400s, and 600s.) If any contaminant gets past its Nylon Pre-Filter, its H13 True HEPA Filter traps 99.97% of airborne contaminants as small as 0.3 microns, removing pollen, pet dander, mold spores, and other allergens out of circulation.
Pros:
- Top-end technology for a low budget
- At 6.6 pounds, you can literally take it with you anywhere.
- Very quiet
Cons:
- Replacement filters are more expensive than you’d expect
- Does not have an air quality sensor
- Only for small rooms
Final Thoughts
Air purifiers are not miracle workers and shouldn’t be looked upon as some sort of a panacea. However, finding the right air purifier for you can help prevent health problems by reducing contaminants and allergens in the air. Remember that different air purifier models will provide varying benefits based on their specs and the filter type used.
And finally, if you’re primarily thinking of buying an air purifier for your allergies, be reminded that they are not replacements for your allergy medicines. They simply provide another blanket of protection in addition to the traditional cleaning methods you may have already implemented.