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In a previous post, I mentioned that I get a runny nose when I go for a walk in the mornings or a run in the evening. It’s not terrible, but is annoying and prevents me from breathing comfortably through my nose. I hypothesized that this was caused by allergies and proposed some experiments to check whether this was the case.
I got great feedback on that post, both from Reddit and the Quantified Self forum. In particular, several commenters suggested:
- Making sure the experiments could distinguish between cold & allergens as the cause
- Testing indoor exercise & no exercise in the same outdoor locations
- Using an N95 mask as an alternative to allergy medicine as means of assessing whether allergens are the cause
- Keeping track of weather and pollen counts during the experiment as potential confounders
Following up on these suggestions, I did a few quick experiments to narrow down what might be going on:
- I sat outside, not exercising, in the same location I take my morning walk. After 1h, I did not get a runny nose. I then started walking and developed a runny nose within 15 min. (the same intensity as has occurred every day since I’ve started monitoring).
- I used a rowing machine to exercise indoors at maximum intensity for 30 min., the same as my evening run. I did not develop a runny nose.
Based on these two observations and the fact that I’ve consistently gotten a runny nose on my morning walks for at least 3 weeks, it seems like the cause has to be either allergies or cold and exacerbated by physical activity.
To test the two hypotheses, I will run the following experiments:
- Test 1: Walk while wearing an N95 mask both with and without the particulate filter.
- The experiment will be randomized and blinded by having another person load/remove the filter
- I will run 2 tests for each condition, recording whether or not I get a runny nose and it’s severity.
- If I get the runny nose without the filter, but not with it, that strongly suggests the cause is allergies. If both conditions prevent a runny nose, that suggests the cause is temperature.
- Test 2: Exercise (walk & run) after taking allergy medication
- Take fast-acting allergy medication or a placebo 1 hour before exercising.
- The experiment will be randomized and blinded by placing the pills inside of opaque gel caps and have another person randomize the treatment days for me.
- If no effect is observed, take long-acting allergy medication or a placebo on alternating weeks.
- I will run 3 tests for each condition, recording whether or not I get a runny nose and it’s severity.
- During all experiments, I will record temperature, pollen count, and other notable weather conditions. If it is raining or unusually windy (very uncommon where I live), I will postpone the experiment to the next day.
These experiments will start next weekend, so I expect to have results to share in 3-4 weeks.
– QD
