Last Updated on June 27, 2020 by Marie Bautista
Do Mosquitoes Love To Bite You?
I have a friend who gets bitten by mosquitoes a lot.
In a room with people of ten and maybe two mosquitoes, she will end up with more bites than any other (hopefully not with the dengue strain!).
And it gets her so frustrated and wonders why she gets bitten a lot. (“I smell good naman. I take a bath twice a day pa…”)
But really, these pesky mosquitoes just have this really keen sense of smell.
And they love certain smells on your skin and breath.
This is according to Cleveland Clinic. Researchers over there found out that your “flavor” to a mosquito is determined by your genes, but there are also certain factors that would make you really taste good to them:
High Concentrations of Cholesterol On Your Skin.
According to the researchers, high concentrations of cholesterol on your skin would make you smell good to the mosquitoes.
This is not the cholesterol in your blood, ok?
Your metabolism determines the cholesterol on your skin, so there is nothing you can do about it. Don’t start to take those anti-cholesterol drugs if you have not been prescribed to take them.
Potency of Your Mosquito Breath.
Yup, if there is Dragon Breath (which you pretty much know about. You know, when you wake up in the morning after a particularly fun night of food and booze and you literally passed out without doing your nightly good hygiene habits that your breath could literally make that mosquito – or anybody for that matter-pass out), there is Mosquito Breath!
Mosquitoes can detect our breath and the carbon dioxide we exhale from as far as 50 yards. Mosquitoes love carbon dioxide in your breath
and the more you have it, the more they will flock to you.
Researchers found that pregnant women and children have more carbon dioxide in their breath, making them super-delish to these blood suckers.
If you are moving and sweating a lot, you will also have an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide you exhale.
What To Do
If mosquitoes love you, the same researchers said you can apply an insect repellent with DEET, which is the most effective and relatively safe.
I personally use on my kids mosquito repellent patches with citronella and lemon eucalyptus oil. If they go outdoors-like on a camping trip or on trips outside Baguio, I use Off! Lotion.
I am particularly OC-OC na on mosquito repellents because two of my kids got hospitalized for Dengue Fever around June.
I even have this insect swatter, a lamp that supposedly repels mosquitoes and electric liquid repellers.
One little known fact.
Mosquitoes are weak fliers. Wind, no matter how light, is their major enemy. A simple oscillating fan will drive them away.
i'm oc-oc too with this subject… kasi naman nakakatakot magka h-fever. ang mahal magkasakit kahit may insurance. by the way sis, i learned that metrobank's td is 5% annually without tax 🙂
We used Bugshield naman for Matt. True, kakatakot ang mga lamok ngayon kahit maliit. Si Matt pa naman sarap na sarap ang lamok sa kanya, hehe.
i am one of those people frequently bitten by mosquitoes but i'm scared of deet. i often use human heart nature's citronella organic spray to repel them. 🙂
Kaya pala I have so many bites in my legs, probably from mosquitoes nga and since I scratched them ayun nagkasugat at umitim. 🙁
I always used some lotion to prevent mosquito bite even with my kids. Thanks for sharing this info.:)
i'm super paranoid din with mosquito bites sa baby ko. gustong gusto pa man din nila papakin ang legs niya! hay naku. i learn somewhere din that blood type daw has something to do din with mosquito bites, nakalimutan ko lang exactly kung anu yun. anyway, right now, i'm using giga insect repellent spray for my baby. i just emptied my human nature citronella oil, will buy again pag naubos yung giga. hay, katakot ang dengue.
Wahaha, I'm one of those people! Promise, I'm a mosquito magnet. They choose me over Yuri (thank God!), but I don't enjoy it. I have to use mosquito repellant everyday tuloy. But the funny thing is I just clap my hands over the mosquitoes (I don't even hit them) and they fall down! Ang weak!
i notice sometimes that mosquito loves to bite me, i will always complain kasi na ako ang laging kinakagat but not the people who are with me… 🙁
Rosemarie/Gven-Rose
I read that article online and it made me laugh. Mosquitoes love biting me and I bet it's because of all the sweat from my exercise routine. I really dislike them. I used OFF this summer but will arm myself with DEET for next year. 😉
Elizabeth
Is DEET safe? I've made some readings before and I learned that it is not safe especially for kids? I maybe wrong so I want to confirm. Mosquito repellants with DEET could not be re-applied until 8 to 12 hours have passed.
I'm using the Citronella from Human Hearts for my kids.
I've also read somewhere that there is one chemical which our body secrets that attracts mosquitoes.
wow, i didn't know about mosquitoes being attracted to carbon dioxide. hmmm… i'll keep your tips in mind.
Many times the mosquito also loves foreigners! I only know OFF… I don't know if we have DEET in Zamboanga…
When we were in the Philippines last summer, my daughters always have mosquito bites samantalang ako wala, hahaha! Mahilig sa foreign blood? Choosy LOL!
Interesting. How does one determine the cholesterol in the skin?
MY daughter is allergic to mosquito bites. When we were in Korea, she was constantly being attacked by mosquitoes for some reason and her skin would swell, I felt terrible for her.
The thing is mosquitoes really bites humans; just be smart to eradicate them totally if you have time. Your tips are good.
Now I know why my mom gets bitten by mosquitoes a lot – probably most of the time..
I also get bitten by mosquitoes a lot, I should wear insect repellants.
oh there are times that mosquito loves to bite me for some reason they are attracted to the body heat
Mosquitoes here are big and I am glad they are not around because of the cold weather. I put mosquito repellent spray on my kids before they go outside to play. Most of the time mosquitos hover around wet areas like grass esp spring or summer time here in WI