Ever feel like you're being eaten alive by mosquitoes while everyone else walks away bite-free? It turns out, it may not be your imagination.
Doctors say mosquitoes really do play favorites, and some of the reasons are completely out of your control.
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"So if you are an adult as opposed to a kid, you're more likely to get bit. If your skin naturally produces certain odors and chemicals that are very attractive to mosquitoes, if you run hot," Dr. Kevin Suiter, a family physician for Henry Ford Health, said. "Mosquitoes appear to be attracted to people who are drinking alcohol. So even one beer has been shown to increase your risk of getting bit as opposed as someone who drank nothing."
Mosquitoes also use the carbon dioxide we exhale to find us. People who usually breathe more deeply, along with pregnant women and those exercising, produce more carbon dioxide, making them easier for mosquitoes to detect.
The good news? You can still tip the odds in your favor. You can start with an insect repellent with 20%-30% deet.
"The deet kind of prevents the mosquitoes from smelling you in a way. And so it kind of almost in a way makes you invisible to them," Suiter said.
Wearing long sleeves and long pants will help, and lighter clothing as opposed to darker clothing can help, too.
One more interesting fact: There is some evidence mosquitoes prefer people with Type O blood over Type A.
Mosquito season in Michigan typically lasts until the first hard frost, so you'll want to keep the bug spray handy for at least a couple more months.
