While I certainly feel blessed to live in a locality that is lush with greenery, I have no pleasure in reporting that the mosquito menace makes me want to relocate to another planet. In spite of regular fumigation, the hardy mosquitoes in my locality manage to survive. It is not for lack of alertness. But, despite our most concerted efforts- keeping screens shut, not opening doors in the evening, etc- a few pesky mosquitos manage to sneak in somehow! Now, I am not a big fan of pesticide sprays, mosquito coils, and repellant creams. So often, as it turns out, I end up playing air tennis in the night, trying to swat away the buzzing buggers.

These pests spread a plethora of diseases like dengue and malaria, so what simple-but-effective preventive measures can you take, to ward them off? Here are some ideas:

Cover up

Wearing full-sleeved shirts and full-length pants, with closed shoes, can solve your problems. This is, of course, easier said than done, especially in our country. You could opt for lighter, easy-to-breathe fabrics like voiles and thin cottons, instead of synthetics. Also, wear lighter colours as mosquitoes are attracted to dark clothing

Sweat right

Have you ever noticed how mosquitoes tend to hover around and bite some people more than others? Yep, you know all those jokes about them having ‘sweeter blood’… but in reality, there is a good chance that such individuals consume more salt. Salt produces lactic acid in the body and mosquitos are attracted to the smell of lactic acid. Another compelling reason to cut down on your salt intake!

De-fruitify

All those shampoos, lotions, deodorants and perfumes which have strong floral and fruity scents attract mosquitos like moths to a flame. So, cut out strong floral and fruity scents and opt for scentless soaps or non-floral ones. You may not smell like a freshly picked bouquet, but you won’t be a walking malaria advertisement either.

Spray your clothing

I don’t like to bring chemicals of any sort in contact with my skin, so that leaves mosquito repellant based lotions out. Another option is to spray repellents with contain permethrin on your clothes. Permethrin should, however, not come in contact with skin. One coat of permethrin on your clothes should last about five washes.

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Save your skin, kill your breath

Garlic can repel mosquitos to an extent. Though chances are that you may end up repelling more than just mosquitos (ahem), a few cloves of garlic may help. Game to try it out?

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Stay away from stagnant water bodies

We all know that a pool of stagnant water is a mosquito’s mating ground. So, stay away from such stagnant pools and encourage neighbours to stop collecting water.

Well, these are my ideas to ward off mosquitos without having to resort to heavy pesticides and chemicals. What are yours?