 Hey guys, Dr. Axe here. Welcome to Ancient Medicine Today. Today we'll be talking about natural insect repellents and mosquito repellents. So if you're a person and you tend to get bit by the bugs, I'm going to go over the best essential oils, the best diet, and some of the best natural ways to keep the bugs away and to keep you from getting bit. So let's dive right in and talk about natural bug repellent tips for the summer. All right. Let's first let's talk about what attracts mosquitoes. Now have you ever noticed that certain people get bit more than others? And I'll tell you why. In fact, my wife is like the chief person. She's always getting bit. I get bit some. She gets bit more. So let me talk about why that might be. Number one here, carbon dioxide. Now in general, bigger people give off more carbon dioxide, but also if somebody is out of breath or breathing more, in general they might be giving off more carbon dioxide a thing to know there. It has a lot of lactic acid built up. If somebody just got done with a hard workout, think of cross fit or swimming where you're getting that burning and lactic acid in your muscles, that actually attracts mosquitoes to your body. Okay. So if somebody's even sweating, you know, that can cause that acetone in your breath. Now acetone in the breath is sort of a chief characteristic of somebody that's in ketosis or if somebody's on a ketogenic diet. So somebody's on a low carb or ketogenic diet. The acetone in their breath can actually attract more bugs like mosquitoes to them. Number four here, estradio. So if your estrogen levels are high, now this is oftentimes I've noticed that sometimes women get bit by more bugs than men. And part of it is the hormones that they're giving off and higher levels of estrogen in the body can actually attract more bugs to them as well. Those estradio levels that get higher, which also can happen during, you know, certain times of day and then also body heat. Now this is very frequent in women that are pregnant or if somebody just got done working out or if somebody has more mass on them or even body fat, but body heat in general will attract mosquitoes that they will go after those people. So again, all of these things actually increase your likelihood of getting bit by mosquitoes. So here are the natural ways using essential oils to repel those bugs. Number one is oil of lemon eucalyptus. This is a certain type of eucalyptus that actually really repels bugs. Now we know eucalyptus has so many benefits and is typically grown in Australia. In fact, it's known that koala bears tend to eat the eucalyptus leaf. But again, eucalyptus and lemon eucalyptus have a give off eucalyptol which actually acts as a natural insect repellent. The next one here is citronella oil. Now I remember growing up my parents, they would actually put these like burning candles with eucalyptus oil to actually keep bugs away and they would do that incense all over when we were kids. But citronella oil of all the things on this list, probably the most powerful natural insect repellent out there today, especially for mosquitoes. And then lemon grass oil. You know lemon grass repels mosquitoes. It's also great for fighting ants and other bugs. Actually it's great for fighting fleas and ticks on your pets. But again, these also keep the bug away. What I recommend is making a blend of all of these as I'm going to show you in just a minute and making your own at home natural DIY insect and mosquito repellent. So let's talk about, here's a homemade bug spray. Takes you two minutes to make half a cup of richazel which has natural bug repellent properties. Half a cup of apple cider vinegar, 40 drops of the essential oils of eucalyptus, lemon grass citronella, also tea tree and rosemary oil are effective. And then one eight ounce glass spray bottle direction. Just mix these together and spray on the areas of your body. Just make sure you avoid your eyes when spraying on this at home natural bug spray. Now here's some other things you can do. If you're really going to be out in outdoors, especially in the summer, and my wife's family is from Minnesota, I'm from Ohio originally. And I remember going up to the lakes during those times and even going up to my wife's here in a few weeks. And the mosquitoes, they joke around like they're the size of like baseball or baseballs are huge. Again, you got to dress right. Okay, that's number one. So wear socks. Really wear long sleeves. Really cover up. Number two, avoid sandals. You know, your bugs can really eat up your feet at night as well. Drink less alcohol. Actually alcohol attracts bugs. If you're drinking alcohol, it's going to attract more of them to you. Number four here. And this actually is a type of material made with black pepper. And so actually helps repel bugs. You can use a fan, you know, a fan, and especially using essential oils as well or citronella candle with the fan can really keep the bugs at bay. And actually avoiding bug zappers. You know, one of the things, the light can't attract bugs from all over. And sometimes using bug zappers can actually kill off everything but mosquitoes, all the other bugs. And some of those bugs actually kill mosquitoes themselves. So a bug zapp really isn't good or bad necessarily. It's just not effective when it comes to mosquitoes specifically. So here's what you got to do. Number one, dress appropriately in the last thing here. Use essential oils like eucalyptus or lumpin' eucalyptus. Use lemon grass. Use citronella. Those are the most effective essential oils to fight off bugs and mosquitoes. And try out that natural at-home bug spray. I've used it before. I know it works. And guys, say if you've enjoyed this live training and if you want to learn more about essential oils and natural remedies, make sure to subscribe here to my YouTube channel. We've got a lot more content coming out on how to teach you on how to use food as medicine. Thanks for watching. Hi, Dr. Axe here. I want to say thanks so much for checking out this YouTube video. And also don't forget to subscribe. If you want to get more great content on things like herbs, essential oils, natural remedies, and how to use food as medicine, also check out more of our content on my YouTube channel. Thanks for watching.