Spend time outside.
Yup, that’s it! Just go outside, in nature as wild as possible, as often and for as long as you can. More exposure to nature seems to be more helpful, but even a little bit – indoor houseplants, tree-lined streets, the sound of birdsong through an open window – has incremental benefits.
All over the state, Virginia residents have been quick to condemn this year’s especially wet summer. But those torrential downpours might be why you have fewer mosquito bites on your arm. As the climate grows steadily warmer, the risk of increased illness from heat-loving insects like mosquitoes grows with it. The research group Climate Central released a report earlier this month detailing how so-called mosquito disease danger days are rising. There are more days in spring, summer and fall with an average temperature between 61 and 93 degrees, the prime temperature for mosquitoes to spread diseases like West Nile virus.