I was 29 weeks pregnant when I flew from India to the U.K., bump and I travelled with my mum a couple of days after my Dohale Jeevan. I was emotionally exhausted after saying goodbye to my husband and desperate just … Continue reading
The climate in Nagpur is pretty mild at the moment so people are wearing jumpers and coats. In England, if it was 25°C people would be wearing their hot pants and tank tops but here in Nagpur, where summer temperatures reach 48°C, this temperature could be considered quite chilly. The temperature is perfect for me, I love it but I still sit under the whirling ceiling fans day and night, at night the temperature can drop to 15°C and accompanied with the ceiling fan I can wake up shivering, but still we keep the ceiling fan on.
I learnt how important fans are and that they are not only for cooling you down when it is hot, the hard way. A couple of nights ago I was finding it really difficult to sleep, I didn’t want to wake my husband so I took the laptop into the living room and sat reading for a couple of hours. I soon started to become sleeping so I stood up to go back to bed, as I stood I saw two mosquitoes fly away from my legs. I sat back down and counted 15 bites all over my legs and feet and then the itching began. I had forgotten to turn the ceiling fan on in the living room, allowing those little buggers to have a feast!! I felt quite silly and suffered the rest of the night, I could not stop itching!
There are three reasons why fans can prevent mosquito bites. The first is kinda obvious, the fans blow the mosquitoes away. Studies show that wind prevents mosquitoes from landing on you, just like a windstorm can stop a plane from making its descent. The second reason is quite interesting, fans dilute and disperse the carbon dioxide we exhale and carbon dioxide is one of the major chemicals that attract mosquitoes! The third reason is more relevant when the weather starts getting warmer, fans cool you down and so reduce sweat and body heat which also attracts those pesky mosquitoes.
I have a supply of DEET (a chemical repellent) but I really dislike using it because it smells horrid and is so toxic. This chemical free method of simply turning on the ceiling fan works just as well! I have never been bitten whilst sitting under the fan and I was savaged by mosquitoes when I neglected to turn the fan on. If you are suffering at the tiny hands of those little critters why not give it a go?
“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito”
-The Dalai Lama
