With Dr Christian Jessen

It’s not an especially embarrassing illness, but for TV’s Dr Christian Jessen, having hay fever in high summer is an inconvenient one, because it rather gets in the way of filming.

“I developed hay fever really badly in my early 30s and it’s a real problem when filming because I can have red itchy eyes, a blocked nose, and feel very wheezy,” said the 37-year-old.

Although he’s administered to hundreds of poorly people throughout his career, the dashing doctor, who fronts Embarrassing Bodies, rather sheepishly admits he’s not his own best patient.

“We doctors are generally useless at treating ourselves and don’t give ourselves the same care we would give to patients.”

In fact, he reveals, he once almost died because he ignored appendicitis.

“There have been a number of occasions when I’ve neglected myself and I once got appendicitis. I got peritonitis (inflammation of the abdomen wall) through doing that, nearly died, and was in hospital for a week afterwards. I don’t even remember the first two days after the anaesthetic...

“But it wasn’t that I missed the appendicitis,” he adds, quickly. “I diagnosed it, and knew exactly what it was, but, as a control freak, I’m terrified of the idea of an anaesthetic, and leaving other people completely in charge of you is my worst nightmare. So I simply hoped it would go away. I would never do this to a patient.”

The real reason Dr Jessen is laying his own history of illness bare is because he’s campaigning to help other allergy sufferers get a better night’s sleep by switching to woollen bedding. Apparently, according to The Wool Room and Allergy UK, whose Indoor Allergy Week is running this week, the natural fibre has a moisture management system which reduces the amount of house dust mites and other allergens.

His top tips to better sleep are:

1. Ensure you’re well hydrated.

2. Don’t have caffeine after 6pm.

3. Turn your iPad and phones off an hour before you want to sleep.

4. Ensure there’s good ventilation in your bedroom.

5. Sleeping with wool bedding is the best way to reduce symptoms of skin and respiratory allergies.