Do you remember my camping trip? Just a short recap first. I was three weeks on a camping trip with my family, and we all had a great time. The weather was perfect, the kids loved it, but one thing was not perfect. I haven’t told you about this before, but there were a lot of mosquitos. They turned up during the evenings, and even though we used all sorts of remedies, they kept coming back and they kept biting and biting.

But hey, that’s what camping is all about.

Well, it shouldn’t be like that. And because I am not going to let this happen to me (and my family again), am going to tell you how to keep mosquitos away (I have been doing some research). The reason I want them to stay away is kind of obvious, because no one really likes getting a mosquito bite, they itch, they hurt, and they look bad.

But first, mosquito bites are nothing more than itchy when it comes to the ones you get in Norway (I think). At least, I have never heard about people getting really sick from a mosquito bite in Norway. So, I guess we should consider ourselves lucky, because in many other countries you and your family could get very sick from a single mosquito bite.  The reason you should be aware, is that mosquitoes carry diseases like malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and West Nile virus, just to name a few.  These diseases kill millions of people around the globe every year.  While many can be treated, your best bet is to never get bitten.

How can you make mosquitos stay away from you and your family?

I have been home for a few weeks now, and I have discovered that there are many factors that affect whether or not a mosquito is attracted to bite you. That includes heat, moisture, carbon dioxide, and other chemicals in your sweat.  So, what I am really saying is that it’s your particular body chemistry that determines whether you will get bitten or not - that’s why some people (like my cousin) attract more mosquitoes.

The most popular way to keep mosquitoes away (at least in Norway) is spray-on repellant. That’s exactly what we tried, and they didn’t work. Well, I guess we should have kept on testing other brands though, because these chemicals help cover our own natural chemical triggers, and by doing this they should be masking us from mosquitoes. While every brand and type of spray contains different chemicals, the most effective and long lasting is DEET. At least that’s what most people are talking about.

I guess that I could have made my own repellant, because the spray-on we bought did not work. I am not saying that I am going to, but if I would try it, I would use various oils, including citronella, cinnamon, cedar, clove, peppermint, and castor, among others. I have read that they are the best when it comes to making your own repellants.

I am one of those guys that are hesitant about putting chemicals on my body.  And therefore, we bought an area repellant as well (we tested it before I tried the spray-on). With an area repellant, there are scents and chemicals that go into the air, instead of onto the skin, and help mask us from bugs (like mosquitos).  The most well known product for this is citronella candles.  The flame produces heat, moisture, and carbon dioxide that distract mosquitoes, and the citronella provides additional masking.

The candles were nice, but they didn’t help us with the mosquitos.

The problem with citronella and similar products is that you have to be within a few feet of them for them to work. The candles we bought were kind of cheap ones, next time I guess we’ll have to try another brand.

Maybe we’ll try scented products that we can wear, like buttons with sayings on them and glow-in-the-dark scented bracelets.  While these products can work, I haven’t seen them in stores in Norway, and from what I have read, most are one time use so you have to keep buying them over and over again during the summer.

When looking for mosquito repellant, most of us only consider using things that go on the outside of our bodies.  However, as I stated below, repelling mosquitoes is all about changing our body chemistry so mosquitoes won’t be attracted. This can also be done through what we put inside of our bodies.  There are several daily supplements that can be used to keep mosquitoes away, as well as improve our overall health.  While these pills can be very effective, they don’t work right away.  You may need to take them for several months before you get the full effect.

I am not going to be taking any pills to make mosquitos stay away. Well, I guess I would if I were anywhere where mosquitos could cause diseases like malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and West Nile virus though.

A few sites where you can buy various mosquito repellants (I don’t know if they work):

- Mosquito Control
- ThermaCell
- Mosquito Barrier

Or maybe you should just eat garlic