Repel Bugs This Summer With These 6 Simple Tricks

We’ve all been camping or stayed outdoors late at night on the Fourth of July only to wake up to scratchy, red mosquito bites. Some people tend to get the annoying bites more often than others, so what’s causing them to taste more delicious to these little vampires?

Science has it down to just a few factors.

Top 3 Reasons Mosquitoes Love Your Skin

1. Maybe you haven’t showered in a while

Hey, when we’re camping, there’s really little reason to take a shower. In fact, most people are under the impression that showering actually attracts bugs. But this turns out to be a myth.
Mosquitoes are more interested in the 1 trillion microbes of bacteria that live on our skin and produce body odor.

2. It’s a Chemical Romance

Humans naturally emit certain chemicals that arouse mosquitoes into thinking its date night with your skin. In one 2000 study, over 275 chemical attractants were found in the odors of a human hand.
These included ammonia, lactic acid, carboxylic acid, and octenol, the chemical found in our sweat. Research even shows that 1-2 day old sweat that decomposes into ammonia on our skin is as good as calling out “dinner’s ready” to these pesky bugs.

3. You’re moving around too much!

Mosquitoes are attracted to heat and movement. So yoga in the park this summer might not be as relaxing as you thought it would.

With all of this in mind, we can now effectively protect ourselves against malarial and other types of mosquitoes and biting bugs.

The 3 Ways to Keep Bugs at Bay

1. Clothing

Cover up your tasty smelling skin by wearing loose, long sleeved shirts and pants. Hats and high socks also help for discouraging neck and ankle bites. Dark colors attract the bugs, so keep your clothing light.

2. Water

Mosquitoes need water to breed, so it’s probably a good idea to drain all standing water sources from around your house like gutters, garbage, or bird baths.

3. Shield

Avoid brand repellents, as most bug sprays contain DEET which is highly toxic and unsafe. Instead, try one of these homemade, all natural repellents:

- Cinnamon leaf oil, which has been shown to more effective at killing mosquitoes than DEET.

- Catnip Oil, which was proved 10 times more effective than DEET.

- Use citronella soap on your body and then cover yourself in pure citronella essential oil.

- Lemon eucalyptus can provide you with up to 3 hours protection.

If you follow the instructions above, you’ll stand a pretty good chance at warding off the biting bugs, but if one
does manage to get through,The Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin shows there is little evidence in the effectiveness of store-bought topical bite treatments.

Here’s how to stop the itch:

Scientific American suggests you clean the area of skin with the bite and apply ice or a cold compress. Alternatively, a German study found heating a spoon with hot water and apply that to the bite effectively stops an itch as well.

Source:

http://www.realfarmacy.com/attracts-mosquitoes-repel/

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