DEET is the best choice against mosquitoes, isn't it?

Mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and Dengue Fever are on the rise world-wide, from “first-world” Florida in Southern USA and Southern Australia to gorgeous tropical South East Asia, Africa, India and South America.  Yes, they make a lot of people very sick; malaria alone killed an estimated 1,238,000 people globally in 2010, according to a University of Queensland study published in the prestigious Lancet magazine.  Staggering numbers.  And that doesn’t count the number of people who just got miserably feverish and sick for months on end, nor does it account for the substantial number of deaths from Dengue Fever.  So that smart thing to do is use a proven mosquito repellent like DEET, right?  I mean, safety first, right?  Agreed, safety first.  But if you’re truly concerned about health and safety, then DEET as a choice for mosquito protection is very wrong.  Here’s why.

DEET (developed and originally manufactured by those same caring and health-conscious US army people who created Agent Orange during the Vietnam War) has been officially classified by the USFDA as a Group D carcinogen (cancer causing agent) and is believed to be an endocrine disruptor, which means it has effects on the reproductive and hormone systems in the body.  Important to note that many cancers are oestrogen dependent, so a disturbed hormone level and response in the body can contribute to the growth and development of many cancers.  DEET has been proven to be a neuro-toxin and to cause both kidney and liver damage.  It is a skin irritant and can cause scarring.  DEET is currently being studied for its contributing role in birth defects and developmental problems in children, hence it is NEVER to be used on children under 6 years of age.  DEET has been detected in ground-water around the world and is also a serious environmental contaminant. 

But the natural sprays don’t work well or, if they do, only for a little while…

For an essential oil to be effective as an insect/mosquito repellent, it has to be at a high enough concentration.  Many natural insect sprays use only 5% concentration, which is simply not enough. Why so low?  Many of the people making the product either aren’t well trained or well read, or are looking to optimize profit and/or maybe not so very interested in your long-term health.

Citronella oil is the most common ingredient in most natural insect repellent sprays, but it is also the least effective over time.  Why do most people choose to use it so much?  Because it’s relatively cheap.  Other oils like basil and clove are incredibly effective but expensive and need to be used carefully at very specific concentrations so as not to burn the skin.  And some oils like neem that are highly effective insect repellents and anti-malarials are simply not known for that purpose; for example, Thai people eat neem leaves with curry (called sadao locally) to prevent intestinal parasites but mostly don’t know about it’s wonderful medicinal uses as an oil for the skin or as an anti-malarial insect repellent.

So what evidence is there for good natural alternatives to DEET?

Field studies on the mosquito repellent action of neem oil.  Sharma SK, Dua VK, Sharma VP.  Source:  Malaria Research Center (Field Station), BHEL Complex, Ranipur, Hardwar, India.

Abstract :  Repellent action of neem oil was evaluated against different mosquito species. 2% neem oil mixed in coconut oil provided 96-100% protection from anophelines, 85% from Aedes, 37.5% from Armigeres whereas it showed wide range of efficacy from 61-94% against Culex spp. Therefore, neem oil can be applied as a personal protection measure against mosquito bites.

Phlai Essential Oil, Sweet Basil Essential Oil  The plant oil group was comprised of Phlai (Zingiber cassumunar) and Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum). Both substances were effective as repellents and feeding deterrents against An. minimus (205 minutes protection time and a biting rate of 0.9%), Cx. quinquefasciatus (165 minutes protection time and 0.9% biting rate) and Ae. aegypti (90 minutes protection time and 0.8% biting rate).  Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2010 Jul ;41 (4):831-40  21073057

Citronella Essential Oil  Essential oil from citronella grass (Cymbopogon nardus) exhibited protection against biting from all 3 mosquito species: for An. minimus, Cx. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti, the results were 130 minutes and 0.9%, 140 minutes and 0.8%, and 115 minutes and 0.8%, respectively. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2010 Jul ;41 (4):831-40  21073057

Clove Essential Oil  In a 2005 study that compared the repellent activity of 38 different essential oils, researchers discovered that clove oil offered the longest duration of protection against all mosquito species involved in the lab experiments. http://altmedicine.about.com/od/healthconditionsdisease/a/insect_repellents_oils.htm

Lemongrass Essential Oil  Lemongrass oil is effective for repelling mosquitoes, according to a 2009 study conducted at Obafemi Awolowo University, which found that a preparation including lemongrass oil was as effective at repelling mosquitoes as commercially available insect repellents. www.livestrong.com

Other tips:  cover up, wear light colors and don’t drink alcohol.  It is believed the increased CO2 in perspiration from drinking alcohol and eating a high sugar diet (yes, that includes fruit) attracts mosquitoes.  Eating garlic and Vitamin B has also been shown to repel and reduce the rate of mosquito bites.   And using a fan outside during the mosquito-biting hours is smart, safe and easy – mosquitoes HATE moving air.

So if you’re serious about your long term health and safety, don’t use a DEET-based repellent, use other strategies to reduce the risk of biting, and make sure any spray you do choose is both effective and 100% natural.

Footnote:  Arun Thai Natural’s 100% Natural Insect Repellent Spray uses a neem oil concentration of 3.5% against the reported study results, which used 2%.  It also contains 5 other proven effective essential oils – basil, phlai, clove, citronella and lemongrass.  Neem oil is effective for up to 12 hours. http://arunthainatural.com

Essential Oils Can Make Me More Beautiful?

Essential oils are about smell, aren’t they? Natural healing aromas from Mother Earth.  Sure they can help you relax, sleep better, feel less nauseous, boost your mood.  But that’s not “beauty” – I want to LOOK good as well as feel good and be well.  That’s mostly how the masses think about essential oils – a fragrant add-on to the way we feel and experience health, but not relevant to beauty or looks.  Actually, that thinking is quite wrong.

Did you know essential oils work and have therapeutic benefit even when you can’t smell them? A 2009 study on rose oil deprived subjects of their sense of smell and applied the essential oil directly to the skin only.  Even without all the gorgeous memories and associations with the divine smell of blooming summer roses, the measured relaxation effect on the test group (as opposed to the clinical control group) was significant. (1) 

So, essential oils are not really about smell per se at all, and effective even when we’re not blissing out on their magnificent natural aromas.  What are those benefits and how do they contribute to beauty and the way I look? 

Essential oils trigger parts of the brain and limbic system that contribute to relaxation, better sleep, improved mood, better blood circulation, improved immune response and optimal hormonal function.  Better sleep equals less sags and bags and optimal production of human growth hormone for cell repair and healthy new skin.  Improved mood means less frown lines and sags around the mouth, and more smile lines (which are gorgeous!).  Better blood flow means better waste removal, better detox and improved oxygenation of the tissue cells and skin, which helps to give that hard-to-define “radiant glow” that truly beautiful people have.  Reduced stress and improved relaxation leads to an overall letting go in the body, face, jaw and shoulders, which leads to softer muscles and better movement of blood.  Improved hormonal function directly leads to less blemishes, better mood, more smiles and yes, even more love-making (and that makes everyone look and feel more beautiful too!).  And improved immune response keeps us well – we all know that looking and feeling sick does NOT make us beautiful.

Think for a moment of the most aggressive, stressed out, sleep deprived person you know: all frown lines, pursed lips, locked jaw and tight.  Not beautiful.  When the myriad of tiny muscles of the face are contracted through stress, worry or anger, the skin pulls differently and blood flow is constricted, which in turn impedes natural skin detox and leads to blemishes, pallor and a loss of skin elasticity.  Consider that prolonged stress makes it harder to sleep and, in time, will make us sick.

 

Using essential oils as part of your daily health and body care routine contributes to the way you feel, look and to your natural beauty.  You don’t have to sit hovering next to an oil vaporizer to achieve this – I mean, who has time for that?  You can use natural body oils blended with essential oils as part of your daily after-shower or before-bed routine – gorgeous silky smooth skin as well as an essential oil health treatment.  You can spritz on essential oils in natural sprays during the day or just whenever you need a “boost”.  You can plan for a hot herbal ball treatment after a great massage – as the hot herbs release their healing benefits to your muscles through the essential oils they release, your whole being will respond.  You could even simply add a few drops of essential oil to a handkerchief and put in your clothes drawer or cupboard – that way even hurrying to dress for work is taking care of yourself.

 

Be aware that products containing essential oils must contain ONLY essential oils and not additional synthetic substances or fragrances – these synthetic additives are incredibly harmful to your health (read Essential Oil + Fragrance = Something Stinks! to understand this issue better).

 

Celebrate the magnificent essential oils Mother Earth has blessed us with and indulge yourself daily for not only better health, but for a soft, radiant, natural beauty that shines like nothing you can ever buy in a bottle.

 

¹Hongratanaworakit, T. Relaxing effect of rose oil on humans. Natural Product Communications, 4(2), 291-6.

Can’t manage “essential” stress relief?

Knowing something is good for you simply doesn’t help. Harsh fact, but true.  Without the “doing”, the implementation, it all goes belly up and we simply continue on in our less-than-healthy-sub-optimal state.

Take stress relief and essential oils, for example.  Most of us know that essential oils are a pleasant, simple way to help manage daily stress, increase concentration and improve sleep quality.  Herbs and oils have been used for thousands of years to enhance natural health and manage stress.  So what stops most of us actually making it part of our daily lives?  Are we too busy, tired and stressed to even remember to use essential oils for daily stress management?  Or is there more to it? 

If we consider the first mental associations we get for the phrase “essential oil” we are on our way to an answer.  Close your eyes and repeat the phrase to yourself:  essential oils.  You might see a massage therapist applying gorgeously fragrant oils from a pretty bottle to your stressed body.  You probably instantly see a little blue, brown or green bottle (much like in the image above) of concentrated oil.  The next part is tricky but pivotal – try to catch the silent “self-talk” that you engage in next, but which is often not accessed in our busy brains.

• “My budget just isn’t gonna stretch to an expensive massage this week – maybe next month”.
• “Hmm.  Essential oils are expensive – I only need a few drops but they want me to pay $25 for just 15ml?”
• “Essential oils burn the skin.  That means I also gotta buy a carrier oil AND a ceramic dispensing bottle.  Starting to look too hard… maybe I’ll just have a glass of wine instead.” 
• “I’d really like to book a massage but I have to take the kids to basketball and then I’d have to skip either my workout or the grocery shopping.”
• “Not sure exactly which oil to buy.  I’ll try to remember to research that next week.”

You get the gist of it.  The self-talk identifies the core reasons most of us don’t make essential oils for stress relief part of our daily routine.

Consider this: once you are aware of  what drives your “why I don’t do it”, there are simple ways you can find practical answers and start to over-ride that limiting self talk.  How might you do this?  Think outside the box – here are a few starter ideas related to essential oils for stress management:

• If you are a clothes-dryer user, put 5-10 drops of your chosen oil on a piece of cloth, pop that cloth in one of those washbags for delicates, and toss it in the dryer with your clothes for the last 5 minutes of the drying cycle.  The wash bag will prevent oil spots directly on your clean clothes.  The uplifting lemongrass (or whatever) infused through your laundry will make dressing for work a more uplifting experience, improve your mood and change your stress levels for the day.
  
• Not a clothes dryer user?  Put a few drops of oil onto a piece of cardboard, pop that in an envelope, and place it in the drawer or cupboard where you store your clothes. Don’t forget to do the same with bed linens – easing into clean sheets that waft out healthful aromas leads to better sleep as well as a delightful sensual experience.
  
• Use a daily all-over body oil instead of a moisturizer – aromatherapy on the run.  Pre-mixed, plant based and be sure it contains only essential oils and no extra nasty fragrance or chemical compounds.  (See Essential Oil + Fragrance = Something Stinks )
  
• Add the essential oils (few drops are enough) to a bath and soak in it – that way you get to enjoy your wine as well.
  
• Look for an essential oil spray, spritzer or body mist at the heath-store – make sure it contains nothing more than the essential oils, alcohol and water.  Pop one in the glove compartment of your car and spritz at traffic lights, before meetings, before getting out of the car and facing your kids and the evening chores.  Put an essential oil spray in your handbag for a quick stress-relief hit in emergency situations like an irritatingly long queue at the bank or dealing with a lost credit card. 

The solutions are out there and don’t take any extra real time – they also don’t have to cost nearly as much as investing in 3 different essential oils, one carrier oil and a dispensing bottle (thnk anywhere from $38 to $200+).  They require us to simply identify the real mental blocks that stand between the “I know it’s good for me” and the “so why am I not doing it?”  Tune into your self-talk, identify the blocks and get creative!

One of the biggest stress-relievers is good self-care; it’s a silent, unspoken daily affirmation to yourself that you are worth it, that you matter and that you are powerful enough to care for yourself.  That feeling of being empowered helps us to change our mindset and leads us to solutions instead of excuses.

Think smart about the gap between knowing and doing.  Use herbs and oils for natural stress management and body care.  Change that limiting self-talk about stress relief.  Once you get the hang of this technique for stress relief and you feel a little less stressed, apply the same technique to your diet and exercise regimes.

Awareness enables us to live simply, naturally and healthfully.  Enjoy, smile and remember to breathe.

Shopping - your most political act

Usually when we think of political acts, we think of voting and elections and political parties and maybe even political protests. Well, I'd like you to think about this premise: that shopping is the most political act you will ever undertake.

What?? (or, as the Thai love to shriek, "array wah??!!")

Politics is nothing more than the system we make for managing and governing groups of people, whether that be at the local community level or on a national level. And right at the heart of the growth of a community and the health of a national economy is the age-old issue of the flow of money and resources.

The choice I make of where and how I shop profoundly affects people, whether I am conscious of this fact or not.

Let me share a living example from Chiang Mai, Thailand. In my local village, there is a Thai mini-mart that sells everything you could ever want, next door to a newly established Tesco-mini mart. The Tesco is brighter and bigger and has better aircon, but is actually more expensive and has less products to choose from; it is also part of a multi-national retail group which ultimately siphons the profits back to the UK. So if I spend my 1,000 baht at Tesco, after costs and taxes etc are paid, the profit goes to the UK, which enriches the UK economy in the longer term. If, however, I choose to spend that same 1,000 baht at the Thai mini-mart next door, the same profit will be spent here in Thailand by the lovely Thai people who own that business. And then they, in turn, have the choice to enrich another Thai business, which grows the developing Thai economy.

When you buy fair trade products, you are literally buying into an ethos about all people having the right to a fair livelihood and fair employment conditions. You are literally putting money into the hands of a responsible employer so that they can go out and make another fair job for another person, which removes the financial burden from the state in the longer term.

When you buy direct from the manufacturer or grower, you are likewise making the growth of employment far more likely. With every middle man and distributor and level of administration involved in a financial transaction, you are reducing the amount that is returned to that person at the end of the line, the manufacturer, who is making something valuable and paying people to help them.

When you buy natural products that use ingredients directly grown on small farms and landholdings, you are supporting rural people who often struggle to get by. Conversely, when you buy a chemically enhanced non-natural product, you are using your money to support multi-national business, questionable industrial practices and, in the long term, depleting the health budget as the longer term results of chemical use manifest in our bodies.

Who would have thought that the simple, mindless act of a little retail therapy could have such a far reaching effect?

Next time you reach for your wallet to go shopping, think about what you're doing. Choose to shop wisely for products that will enhance the world we live in, not deplete and damage it further. Choose products that will put money back into the hands of responsible employers, not the greedy owners of a sweatshop somewhere. Choose products that will give long-term sustainability to our communities, countries and the world we live in.

So live, shop.... enjoy exercising your political rights! :)