If there were ever a job opening in mosquito extermination for “bait”, I’d be a shoe-in. Honestly, I feel like every time I’m outside during the summer months, my appendages are covered in red welts. Attractive, I know. This got me thinking, why me!? I’ve had people try to tell me it’s because I’m ‘so sweet’… but I suspect they just want a ride on my boat. So I looked into it.
Turns out, mosquitoes are attracted to humans by sight AND smell. According to this article on MSNBC, wearing dark colors (navy, black, and red for example) makes you more apt to get bitten. Movement is another sign the little pests use to find you. After the bug has you in their sights, they then use smell to hone in further. Who knew bugs could smell? Apparently, the rate of carbon dioxide you exhale can really lure them in. Body heat and secondary smells given off by certain chemicals in your body also play a role in whether or not you’ll be scratching the next day.
So what can we do about it? Not much, it sounds like. According to this study from Queensland Institute of Medical Research
on twins, it may all be attributed to genetics. Each twin was attractive or repellant to mosquitoes in the same amount as their sibling. Although certain things are known to attract mosquitoes (beer, for example), there is less known about how to keep them away without using bug spray. So, it looks like another summer full of scratching, spraying, and swatting in store for us who can be called, “The Mosquito Magnets”. Here’s to wishing we had a better superpower!
Here are more fun facts about mosquitoes and bites provided by the article:
-
Eating bananas will not attract mosquitoes and taking vitamin B-12 will not repel them; these are old wives' tales.
-
Some mosquito species are leg and ankle biters; they cue into the stinky smell of bacteria on your feet. (Ew!)
-
Other species prefer the head, neck and arms perhaps because of the warmth, smells emitted by your skin, and closeness to carbon dioxide released by your mouth.
-
The size of a mosquito bite welt has nothing to do with the amount of blood taken and everything to do with how your immune system responds to the saliva introduced by the mosquito into your skin.
-
The more times you get bitten by a particular species of mosquito, the less you react to that species over time. The bad news? There's more than 3,000 species worldwide.
Are you a mosquito magnet? What do you do to keep them away? Any opinions on the best bug spray out there?
Related Posts:
Summer Pests
Bed Bugs: Are They Real?
Dealing with Stinging Pests
Subscribe to Groupie Blog to receive free updates on the latest health and wellness posts in your feed reader or e-mail!
0