DR GLENIS SCADDING is honorary consultant physician in allergy and rhinology at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, London, and honorary senior lecturer in clinical immunology at University College London
Around one quarter of the UK population experience some sort of rhinitis – an itchy runny nose, sneezing, and watery eyes – and about 10 million of those, have hay fever, so it’s much more common than we think. Hay fever is also more serious than we think: it’s not just sneezing and sniffling, but can affect your whole life. It affects your ability to sleep properly, to think straight and concentrate, and there’s evidence it can impair exam performance, too. But you don’t have to suffer every summer.