What causes allergies and how do they affect the body?

Allergies happen when your body thinks something harmless is actually dangerous, and it goes on a full-scale attack.

Imagine you're playing with your favorite toy, and suddenly someone throws a big, sticky ball of goo at you, that’s what happens in allergies. Your immune system, which is like the body's superhero team, sees something like pollen or pet dander and thinks, “Oh no! That’s a threat!” So it sends out its special fighters, white blood cells, to attack.

When your body sees an allergy trigger, like a sneeze-causing flower or a fur-coated friend, it starts making histamine, which is like the body's version of a loud alarm. Histamine makes you sneeze, cough, and sometimes even itch, it’s like your body is trying to get rid of that sticky goo by shaking it off!

If the same trigger keeps coming around, your body gets more excited each time. It might send out even bigger groups of fighters, which can make you feel really runny or even give you hives, like having tiny bumps on your skin that itch a lot.

So allergies are just your body's way of saying, “I don’t know what this is, but I’m not taking any chances!”