Protect yourself from ticks with these simple tricks

As small as the animals are, the effect of a tick can be as big: Anyone bitten by a tick has to remove it with tick tweezers – in the hope that no dangerous diseases such as TBE or Lyme disease have been transmitted. To prevent the bite from happening in the first place, you can prevent it with the right protection.

Small arachnids that make life difficult for us: ticks. Their bite can not only lead to local inflammation, ticks also transmit diseases. To avoid this, you should take precautionary measures to avoid getting bitten in the first place.

Of course, there is no such thing as absolute protection. Unless you don’t leave the house at all. But that need not be.

Vaccination can protect

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and Lyme disease are among the most dangerous diseases transmitted by ticks.

A vaccination can protect against the viral disease TBE, your children can be vaccinated from their first birthday. Unfortunately, there is no vaccination against the bacterial disease Lyme disease.

Avoid meadows with tall grass

The rumor that ticks jump, fly or drop from trees on their victims persists. But none of that is true. The bloodsuckers lurk on blades of grass and in the undergrowth.

Therefore, avoid staying in tall grass for long periods of time. When hiking and walking, stick to the existing paths.

Wear the right clothes

The best protection against ticks is the right clothing. It should be as light and monochromatic as possible. Long trousers, a long shirt and sturdy shoes keep the crawling creatures away from the skin.

Pulling socks over the trouser legs is a fashionable faux pas, but it effectively protects against ticks during outdoor activities. The t-shirt or shirt should also be tucked into the pants so that the crawling parasites do not get to the skin.

Repellents with tick-repellent active ingredients

In your pharmacy you can get so-called repellents with tick-repellent active ingredients. Your body odor appears uninteresting to ticks for a certain period of time when it is applied to the skin. However, the active ingredients and effective times of the remedies vary greatly and can trigger allergies, so you should be well informed beforehand.

Even if you use repellents, be sure to regularly check your skin for ticks every 30 to 60 minutes. It is therefore better not to wear black clothes, because you can spot the little animals better in light-colored shirts and pants.

Take the time to thoroughly check your body and that of your children for ticks after spending time in nature. Ticks prefer thin and warm areas of skin, so pay particular attention to the arms, back of the knees, head, neck and private parts.

There are also many home remedies that can help.

Use coconut oil

Even if coconut oil always smells a bit like vacation for us humans – ticks don’t seem to like this smell at all. The lauric acid it contains supposedly keeps crawling creatures away. It’s best to rub the oil all over yourself – if it doesn’t work against ticks, at least you don’t have any foul-smelling chemicals on your body.

The smell of garlic drives away the ticks

Garlic is supposed to help against vampires, so why not against crawling bloodsuckers too?

Swedish researchers from Lund University in Malmö have tested the effect on members of the military. Test persons who swallowed garlic powder were bitten significantly less by ticks than those who did not eat any garlic.

Black cumin oil has a tick-repellent effect

Many health-promoting effects are attributed to black cumin oil, and it is also said to have a tick-repellent effect. The oil can be used internally and externally.

If you don’t like the taste, you can also use it for cooking or mix it in a fruit juice.