How CBD Stops Mosquito Bite Itching
📷 BBC
Summertime may be great for outdoor growers who can finally head out and start their grow. Although the season unfortunately has one big disadvantage too, mosquitos! Mosquito bites can be extremely itchy and uncomfortable, as most of you know. Luckily there is one thing that stops mosquito bite itching fast: CBD!
Mosquito season
While most people long for the summertime, looking forward to cocktails in the sun and nights on the beach. Other people prepare themselves for war – as the season brings out blood-hungry mosquitos to fight off in the night. Regardless of how careful you are with shutting doors and windows, the tiny little flies always manage to find a way back to your bedroom and sting you.
Their ability to find you sleeping from a distance maybe bad news for us, at the same time it helps the buggers survive. Because according to science, the mosquitoes that sting you are always female mosquitos that need blood to form their eggs after they’ve mated. That’s why they can smell the carbon dioxide we humans exhale, from a staggering 15 meters distance!
The reason why mosquitoes always choose you to sting, rather than your significant other, also is no coincidence. As mosquitos smell and analyse the more than 300 chemicals we exhale. To find the blood containing the right amino-acids to form their eggs with. According to Wikipedia: ‘Among humans, the feeding preferences of mosquitoes typically include those with type O blood, those who are heavy breathers, those with an abundance of skin bacteria, those with high body heat, and pregnant women.Individuals’ attractiveness to mosquitoes also has a heritable, genetically-controlled component’.
Itching mosquito bite
After you’ve been selected for the perfect composition of your blood, the mosquito lands on your body to start its feast. Male mosquitos often feed on sugary liquids as nectar from flowers – and their mouthparts couldn’t even pierce skin if they wanted to. The mouthparts of female mosquitoes however, are perfect to both enjoy nectar for energy as to pierce our skin to suck out blood.
While the mosquito takes something from your body, it is also kind enough to leave something behind: saliva. And it is exactly that substance which makes mosquito bites so damn itchy! For them, this saliva acts as an anticoagulant; making sure the blood does not clot and clog their mouthpart.
To us, this means our body is being invaded with around 20 strange proteins from the mosquitoes saliva. Leaving us with an itchy raised bump where the mosquito bit. Caused by histamines trying to fight off the proteins the attacking bug left behind. Don’t you dare scratch though! As this spreads the saliva under the skin, making matters much worse.
CBD to stop itching
Luckily, there’s a good way to get rid of that itch! As science shows, cannabinoids like THC and CBD work wonders when it comes to treating an itchy skin. This mostly has to do with cannabis’ anti-inflammatory properties. Which are shown to be perfect for battling this type of itch-causing inflammatory or allergic reaction to the mosquitoes’ saliva.
Obviously the best way to battle the itch with cannabis, is to apply your cannabinoids directly onto the affected area of the skin. If you have any at home, it’s fine to use CBD Oil – which is normally consumed orally. Just apply one to a few drops on the bump and let it sit. Be careful not to bump into anything, as the oil is absorbed slowly and easily transfers onto clothing; often leaving stains.
Of course it’s best to keep mosquitoes at a distance. But if they do find and sting you, now you know how to stop the itch.
Source: Amsterdam Genetics