Hmm, most German forests are also vast monoculture 'tree farms' and have been for the last 250 years (also caused by large scale deforestation in the centuries before). In the Ore Mountains we also have those yellow clouds of pollen coming off spruce trees every few years, covering everything with a thin yellow dust layer, yet I'm not aware that the number of people with pollen allergies is exceptionally high (oth, maybe it was 200 years ago and by now the population has become immune, or maybe the tree pollen in Japan is just more aggressive...).

▲

efesak 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The spruce and other local conifers (I live by the Bohemian Forest/Bayerischer Wald) have pollen that seems to be low allergenic by design. I know a lot of people who are allergic to birch or weed pollen, but not to spruce.

	▲	sidewndr46 a minute ago \| parent [-]
		By design? Who designed the pollen in those trees?

▲

idiomaddict 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I moved to Germany as an adult from a completely separate biome, and I’ve got terrible problems with allergies I never had in my home country

	▲	thrownthatway 13 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> from a completely separate biome You were off planet‽

▲

soni96pl 26 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My aunt in Poland has terrible allergies now because of yellow pollen from spruce, but I'm not sure how that translates to larger population, other than it does happen

	▲	jeltz 16 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Spruce allergy is a thing but it is rare. Only a few unlucky people suffer from it.

▲

INTPenis 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Pollen allergies have definitely skyrocketed in Sweden. We used to be able to sit in an office and work all year without hearing people sniffle and sneeze.

Now it's like an epidemic, at least half the office is affected.

▲

reeredfdfdf an hour ago | parent [-]

Probably we can blame higher hygiene standards, or some other environmental factor for it. Forests haven't changed much in past decades.

Here in Finland I've never been affected by any kind of tree pollen at all, but somehow timothy grass pollen gives me horrible symptoms, forcing me to take antihistamine most of the summer. I lived my childhood near farmland and forests, so definitely got exposed to both forms of pollen at early age.

	▲	INTPenis 2 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Yes timotej is my allergy as well. And I got it as an adult, in 2009. So 26 years without any allergies, then suddenly, one summer in Helsingborg, the air was thick with pollen. I remember the smell was like cheese doodles in the air, musty. Once I got back from an errand in the city my face was leaking, I walked to the pharmacy with blurry vision to get my first antihistamines. Ever since then every year june is a nightmare. It affects your sleep, so it affects every part of life. And since then I've observed more and more pollen allergies around me, friends, co-workers, strangers on the bus. It's very prevalent.
	▲	skirge an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		food is full of histamine, especially fish and fermented food which is considered healthy but some (MCAS, HIT) people are sensitive.

▲

alphabeta3r56 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Germany has half the percentage of forest as Japan

	▲	thrownthatway 6 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Context: Germany, area 357,022 km2 (137,847 sq mi) water 1.27% Japan, area 377,975 km2 (145,937 sq mi), water 1.4%

▲

postepowanieadm 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Spruce is also a problem in Poland, especially southern. Leaf trees have been replaced with "fast growing" spruce over a hundred years ago.

▲

Xmd5a an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"why do you sneeze, we don't do that Germany"

▲

iLoveOncall 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Hayfever allergy rates are growing around the whole world, Germany included.