Dear human, I love you: Tips to help your fight against mosquitoes – don’t waste money on candles and coils

Sla, smack and ouch is the standard background noise when you are around mosquitoes. In fact, regardless of your location, you are not very far away from a bunch of mosquitoes.

Summer is a particularly active hunting season for mosquitoes as there are more people outside especially after dark, giving mozzies enough time and prey to feast upon.

There is no shortage of mosquito prevention tips and tricks all over the web, however, what we truly need is an expert opinion. Following is the compilation of some of the most tested tips by a mosquito expert Jonathan Day, PhD, who tries to explain how human’s worst little enemy operates and how to counter the invasions.

Blow them away

According to Dr Day, mosquitoes’ worst enemy is not spray or lotion, what mosquitoes absolutely dread is the wind, in fact, any wind even a 1 MPH wind makes life a hell of a lot difficult for these little flying beasts.

The ideal scenario would be to choose a breezy spot for your outdoor activity, but if you can’t find breeze you can always make one; use fans to keep a steady flow of air coming your away, this will serve as the best deterrent for the mosquitoes keeping you and your tribe safe from the invaders. Keep in mind to direct the flow of air downwards, this blocks the mosquito’s habitual route of attack wherein it attacks the lower part of the body instead of the upper part as it is conventionally thought.

Don’t waste money on candles and coils

Despite the fact that most of us religiously believe that coils and citronella candles are the best mosquito repellents, Dr Day argues that they aren’t. He adds that the only way these repellents can be truly effective is when you have a thick cloud of the smoke generated by these repellents, essentially making a wall between you and mosquitoes. Otherwise, these vicious little creatures are smart enough to dodge the pretty visible smoke and blitz the hell out of you.

Drier the better

According to Dr Day CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) works as a beacon for the mosquitoes when they are searching for potential food sources. Our bodies generate ample carbon dioxide when we drink alcohol, exercise, eating spicy food; anything that can crank up our metabolic rate has to be avoided if you need to avoid mosquitoes, Prevention reported.

Eat and repel?

After discussing an agent that can attract mosquitoes, now a bit about something that some internet experts would have you believe that you can add in your body to repel them. Anything that contains B vitamins has the potential to repel mosquitoes they say; however, Dr Day strongly disagrees and asserts that there is no evidence to back these claims.

Note: Another thing that has taken the world by storm is the use of ultrasonic devices to repel mosquitoes, Day says that these sounds do nothing whatsoever to repel the mosquitoes and must not be considered.

Mozzies aren’t colour blind!

The Dr talks about another mechanism that mosquitoes deploy in order to mark and attack their target food, and that is the identification of colours. During the daylight hours, mosquitoes heavily rely on their colour vision to locate anything that even remotely contrasts with the horizon. In many cases, dark colours will cause you a lot of trouble with mosquitoes, avoid dark and try to wear light colours to mix in with the horizon and you are good to go.

Avoid the mosquitoes hours

It is common knowledge amongst boaters that the water tends to die down during the hours of dawn and dusk. This is primarily due to the wind dissipating as the sun sets and rises. The lack of the wind (as mentioned above) is an ideal situation for mosquitoes, as they come out of their barracks in hundreds to dine on the shores. Avoid these hours and you will save yourself a lot of blood.

If you have any tips that work then please let us know, we would love to hear from you – just drop us a message in our Facebook inbox