In the open air or indoors, when exercising or travelling, how can you best protect yourself against being bitten by mosquitoes and other insects? Follow our guide to put an end to all that itching!
Why protect yourself against insects?
Being bitten is never nice and can result in uncomfortable itches! But as well as being uncomfortable, insect bites can also be serious. Certain insects can also transmit diseases. For example, tiger mosquitoes carry dengue fever, chikungunya and yellow fever, ticks can transmit Lyme disease, stink bugs can transmit Chagas disease, etc. Individual protection against insect bites is often the first and main measure taken to prevent these diseases.
How to protect yourself against insects
Most mosquitoes are nocturnal and they bite between sunset and sunrise, but certain mosquitoes also bite during the day. So you need to be protected all day long.
There are no 100% sure methods, because insects can become used to a product. But there are a number of effective methods, each adapted to a given situation. What's the key to successful prevention? Intelligently combining these various complementary methods and remembering to apply them regularly.
The different methods to protect yourself against insects
Clothing combined with fabric insecticide:
The first recommendation is to wear clothing that covers the entire body, including arms, wrists, legs and ankles. But remember that one in five bites is made through clothing. Impregnating your clothing with insecticides helps combat insects. Ideally, you can spray a fabric insecticide, such as Biovectrol spray, on your clothes (or your tent).
They are applied to the skin on all parts of the body that are uncovered, including the face as well as parts that might be exposed during movement. Repellents do not kill mosquitoes, but they help keep them at bay. They contain substances that send danger signals to the insect telling them to stay away.
These repellents are homologated, to help you make the right choice. The only active ingredients permitted in Europe are: DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), IR 3535 (Ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate ), ICARIDIN (Hydroxyethyl isobutyl piperidine carboxylate ), CITRIDIOL and GERANIOLRemember to check the label first!
We recommend the homologated Aptonia 50ml and 100ml sprays, which work against mosquitoes for 6 hours and against flies for 2 hours. They contain the active ingredient IR 3535.
These repellent bracelets are designed to keep mosquitoes away, thereby avoiding bites. They are more fun than cutaneous repellents and are available in different colours.A fact that might please your children! But these bracelets only work against the mosquitoes found in temperate regions.
We recommend the homologated No Mosquito bracelet from Aptonia, which works for 2 weeks and can be recharged. It contains the active ingredient GERANIOL.
These devices, which must only be used outdoors, are ideal for evenings spent in the open air. Fogging devices are an effective supplement to the repellents applied to the skin and clothes.
Ideal for use at night, mosquito nets must be tucked under the mattress or touch the floor to keep out all insects. For even better protection against nocturnal mosquitoes, you can spray the mosquito net with a fabric repellent, or choose a net already impregnated with insecticide. We recommend Quechua mosquito nets.
Insecticides do not repel insects. They kill them. Insecticides are available in aerosols or electric dispensers. The methodconsists of spraying your bedroom with an aerosol of insecticide or plugging in a dispenser by the entrance to the bedroom before going to bed.
One extra tip: after-bite pens!
If an insect still manages to bite you, you can use an after-bite pen to relieve the discomfort. These clever, quick and efficient devices have a soothing effect on insect bites. They also act like defence systems and limit the inflammation and redness. We recommend the Aptonia after-bite pen, which contains golden seaweed extract and bisabodol with soothing properties. And the roll-on system makes it very easy to apply!