The heat wave across the U.S. has left everyone staying indoors with the air conditioned, cool air and it has also provided those indoors with the safety from pesky, annoying mosquitoes.
New Jersey conducted a study of 1,000 randomly selected residents and yards in similar New Jersey communities. One group was given treatment for the pesky mosquitoes and the other group did not. In 2011, treatment was given to the other group and the original group did NOT receive additional treatment. The outdoor activity was recorded for adults AND children (ages 8-12).
This study found that the untreated group’s adults only went outside for and average of 7.3 hours a week and 10.2 hours a week for the treated group’s adults. The children from the treated group also increased their outdoor time on a more considerable level. Children were 63% LESS LIKELY to go to outside in the untreated group versus the treated group.
There has been blame put on the mosquitoes for children gaining weight. It is a far fetched accusation even considering the data from the above New Jersey study, but it could hold some validation. When children are outside, they are running, riding bikes and all around getting some form of exercise. Whereas children staying inside are watching tv, playing video games, Facebooking and texting – all of which are a form of laziness.
Does your child play outdoors with the mosquitoes rampaging in their territory? If not, while they are indoors, do you keep them physical or are they sucked into technology land?
I actually believe I may be allergic to mosquitoes because when I make my way outside, they literally suck me dry of my blood. I get dizzy, light headed and honestly look like X-Men’s The Thing. On top of the fact that I sweat soooooo bad. Even if it were -57 degress outside, I sweat. I haven’t found a deodorant strong enough to last through my daily sweats. I am constantly applying, but even after I apply, I feel as though I reek of body odor. But, I can say, my daughter is fairly active indoors just as if she were outdoors. The only difference is she takes more tv breaks and has less space to run than if she were outdoors.
Source: