No matter where or how you spend your long Alaska summer days, it's a pretty safe bet to expect encountering the unofficial "state bird."
Perhaps you've even found yourself wondering why you seem to attract every mosquito in the area, when say, the person next to you is being ignored. If you have, you're not alone, and your suspicion of tasting better is not exactly delusional.
According to Better Health, scientists aren't totally certain why mosquitoes choose one person over another, but they're narrowing in. And the answer may relate to "small genetic variations in human odor" playing a larger role than experts are able to confirm at the moment, but there are other factors.
First, mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide, which humans exhale during breath. Second, they tend toward warmer skin temperatures, such as that warmed by a fire or charred by the sun. Further, consuming alcohol could land you more bites.
In short, don't go out in the sun, breathe heavily, drink or hang out by a fire if you want to avoid being the main attraction for a mosquito buffet.
So much for an Alaska summer, right?
Read more at getbetterhealth.com or here, at WebMD.
Alaska Dispatch Publishing