How to Prevent Bed Bug Bites: 6 Effective Tips

We don’t need to point this out, but bed bugs are a huge nightmare! Despite trying several times to keep them away, they are so stubborn as to get back again and again.

If you have never been affected by bed bugs, you will not be able to understand their physical and mental effects. So the question is, how to prevent bed bug¹ bites?

There are many ways to stop bed bugs, and below we will learn about some of these ways in detail. But first, let’s get to know a bit about the background of the same.

Why do Bed Bugs Bite?

Bed bugs have a habit of biting some people more. You might be sleeping with many people, and you are the only one who wakes up with bed bug bites, whereas the others are completely untouched. Seems a bit of partiality, right?

Well, this is more of a myth. The actual reason is that many people react more to bed bugs because of allergic reactions.

These people might get affected by bed bugs, and their bed bug bites tend to look scary; on the other hand, there will be other people who sleep on the bed less and have no reaction.

The myth of bed bugs biting some people more than others is similar to the saying that mosquitoes prefer some people’s blood to others.

It is because bed bugs, mosquitoes, and other blood-sucking insects slightly prefer blood type. It is because they were raised with a small preference for blood.

So if bed bugs were raised accustomed to a type A blood group², they would feed on people with the type A blood group more than those with other blood groups.

Once they get used to feeding on only one type of blood group, they tend to feed on people with different blood groups.

What Attracts Bed Bugs?

Many things attract bed bugs to us that we might not even be able to think of. Let us see all the reasons why bed bugs are attracted to us.

1. Carbon Dioxide

Humans, along with many animals, naturally breathe carbon dioxide out. It is because our body is made so that we exhale carbon dioxide naturally.

Therefore, the air near a sleeping person or an animal is richer in carbon dioxide than the other room areas. A bed bug can very easily sense that.

It will be attracted to any place that matches the description of higher levels of carbon dioxide and lower levels of oxygen.

2. Heat

Whether you are sleeping on the bed or the floor, your body is warmer than many other animals. It is the same with all warm-blooded animals. It is because our body needs to maintain a certain temperature to ensure the proper working of certain organs.

When the bed bugs find that the air in one portion of the room is richer in carbon dioxide than the other areas, it also finds out that the area might also be warm; in short, bed bugs are attracted to the body heat we produce when we sleep. They are frequent travellers who move in and around the bed.

3. Pheromones and Human Scents

Humans generally have a scent that predators can identify. Bed bugs know very well how a human smells and is therefore attracted to us.

It can sense the presence of a human from any corner of the room. Even if they hide in their places, they will come out eventually.

Coming to the solution, there are many ways by which you can prevent bed bug bites. You can try confusing them so that they won’t be able to find the correct position for us.

The second way to prevent bed bug bites is to stop them physically by applying various ways and methods. And at last, the third way to stop bed bugs is by killing them.

How Many Bed Bugs to Expect Per Night?

The number of bed bug bite marks you get every night is directly proportional to how large your bed bug infestation is. Getting one bite mark every few days indicates that you might have only a one-bed bug in your mattress.

They generally like to feed once every week, but this increases in the summer. The bed bugs’ metabolism ³is high when the temperature is warmer, and they tend to feed in high heat.

If you suffer from bed bugs biting every night, you might have 5-10 bed bugs on your mattress. They hide in the daytime and are generally active during the night. They prefer to stay in one place on the mattress or bed sheets rather than moving around the room.

If you encounter more than three-bed bug bite marks every night, your bed bug infestations are around 30. In this case, the source of the bed bugs might not just be one. They can be present in your upholstered furniture as well.

If your bed bug problem increases with each passing day, you should find the exact source and take action as soon as possible.

Only two-bed bugs in the summer can be as dangerous as thousands during winter. Even if you have hundreds of bed bugs in the winter, it will affect you less or might not affect you at all.

If your bed bug problem continues even after taking action, immediately wash your bed sheets, bedclothes, and everything you can to ensure safety. You can take the help of a vacuum cleaner to clean the mattress and under the bed.

How to Prevent Bed Bug Bites?

Preventing bed bug bite marks or bug bites, in general, is very important if you want a sound and peaceful sleep. In this write-up, we are going to share some of the effective ways in which you can get rid of bed bugs.

1. Try Sleeping Under Many Layers of Bed Sheets

Bed bugs can’t bite you over a piece of fabric or plastic. All they can do is leave bite marks on the skin exposed. To prevent this, you can cover yourself with bed sheets or comforters.

Covering yourself up in the winter is okay, but it might be discomforting during the summer. There is a solution for this as well. You can try lowering the temperature of your air conditioner and cover yourself up. It will protect you from bed bugs and ensure you have a sound sleep.

If you do not have air conditioners or if you’re someone who doesn’t like to cover themselves up while sleeping, you can add an extra mattress layer to your bed. It will also be effective in preventing bed bug bites.

2. Regularly Wash Bed Sheets and Bed Clothes

Maintaining proper bed hygiene is very important when getting rid of bed bugs. Washing your needed belongings every day will kill bed bugs, and you will not have to face any problems after some time.

To wash your bedding properly, make sure to follow the below-mentioned guidelines. It will ensure a clean bed and help you eliminate all the nasty bed bugs.

1. Secure the bedding in a large plastic bag.

2. Be careful to take the bedding to the laundry room properly, without opening it anywhere in the room. If you do so, the bed bugs in your bed sheets and the bedding might transfer to all the corners of your room.

3. Place the bedding properly in the washing machine or the laundry basket.

4. Make sure you do not keep the bedding anywhere and wash it as soon as possible because if it is left unattended, the bed bugs may escape and hide in all places over the house. They can be on your nearby furniture, the carpet, and god knows where.

5. Wash them thoroughly. You can even wash the bedding twice if unsatisfied with the cleaning.

Just changing your bedding regularly is enough to disturb the bed bugs. It will disturb their harborage, hence forcing them to move from that particular place. If you do not change your bedding after a certain interval, the bed bugs will tend to lay eggs and spread many diseases.

3. Wear Pajamas and Full Sleeve Clothes

Keeping yourself covered is another way to stop the bed bugs from biting. Wearing pyjamas can help you in preventing bed bug bites to some extent. They generally bite on bare skin, so if you keep yourself covered, there are high chances of being safe.

Wearing pyjamas and long sleeves makes it hard for the bed bugs to access the bare skin. If you are comfortable, you can also wear socks to bed. It will provide you with extra protection from bed bugs.

If you are wearing a full-sleeve top or shirt to bed, make sure to tuck the piece of clothing onto your pyjamas. It will leave no space for bed bugs, reducing the attack.

Even after ensuring all these methods, you still might be affected by bed bugs as they will look for any open exposed skin. You can also spray repellant on your body’s exposed areas before bed.

4. Vacuum Mattress

Using a vacuum cleaner to vacuum your mattress is one of the most effective ways to keep your bed away from bed bugs. Remember to clean every corner and inch of your mattress, as the bed bugs are excellent in hiding. They will find many hiding places on your bed that you might be unable to identify with bare eyes.

You can vacuum out the nasty from every corner of the bed. While using a vacuum cleaner on your mattress, make sure to use the fitting that will be able to go through cracks and corners. Make sure to clean your vacuum cleaner bag far from your house to ensure they do not return.

Please do not use the extension with a brush on it because it will help them escape as the brushes will brush them out. They will easily find places to hide that you might be unable to figure out.

Suppose you have problems with washing the bedding at regular intervals. You can go with vacuuming your mattress and the bed now and then. But do to forget to change and wash your bed sheets every week.

A steam cleaner is a great substitute for vacuum cleaners. You can use it to get rid of the bed bugs from bed. Even in some hotel rooms, you will be able to find bed bugs; you can ask for a quick clean-up or do it yourself by asking them to provide you with a steam cleaner or a vacuum cleaner.

5. Use Mattress Encasement

A big airtight bag zips around our mattress in the mattress encasement. The advantage of using this encasement is that it gets completely airtight when it is zipped up, making it impossible for the bed bugs to get you.

But unfortunately, bed bugs can still be alive inside the mattress for more than a year. They can be alive for a long time, even without feeding.

Always remember to keep the zipper shut to make sure that no new bugs reach you. Another advantage of using a mattress encasement is preventing bed bugs from entering and creating new bed bug infestations.

If you have a mattress that does not have a zipper, you can also order a mattress encasement according to the size of your box springs.

Place the mattress on your bed and cover it with the mattress encasement. Zip it up and make sure not to leave any space open. You can then cover the case with any bed sheet of your choice and are ready to sleep peacefully.

If you are still dilutional about the size of the case or the protection it will provide, you can check about various mattress encasements online before investing in one.

6. Avoid Sleeping on the Sofa

If you have bed bugs in your bed, you are likely to have the same problem in your sofas because the bed bugs found on your bed can also be on your sofa. Sleeping on the couch will be no help if you have bed bugs.

Even if the sofa is clean and clear and has no bed bugs, it is even worse to sleep there as you may bring some of the bed bugs with you. Once they reach the sofa, they will create new bed bug infestations on the sofa.

As bed bugs are natural explorers, if you bring one or two-bed bugs with you to the sofa, they might start their breeding process. Soon you will find another bed bug infestation on your sofa, which is probably the last thing you want to experience.

The same thing applies if you plan to sleep in other bedrooms. You will make the path clear for the bed bugs to create their population in different places in your house. So instead of doing that, make sure to get rid of the bugs as soon as possible.

Relation Between Bed Bugs and Lights

Bed bugs prefer to stay in the dark rather than in bright light. If you want to test this, point a ray of light at them, and you will see them scattering in all directions possible within no time.

It has made people believe that if they leave the lights on while sleeping, the bed bugs might not affect them. But is it true? The answer is no.

Keeping the light on while sleeping will not stop the bed bugs from biting. They are attracted to many things, like body heat, carbon dioxide, and other factors. Feeding on humans is much more important to them than staying away from the light.

When a bed bug crawl under the mattress o gets you, the light is the last thing that affects them. They only have one intention of feeding at that particular moment. So if you think keeping the right light on while sleeping will prevent bed bug bites, you are wrong.

Ways to Prevent Bed Bug Bites Naturally

There are many ways of killing bed bugs naturally. One of the best remedies is the use of tea tree oil. 

1. Using Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil is very effective when it comes to bed bugs. It is so because tea tree oil is toxic in contact with germs and small organisms like bed bugs. To keep the bed bugs away, you can spray yourself with a diluted tea tree oil solution before sleeping.

You can follow the steps below to make a diluted tea tree oil solution. Use it every night before bed to obtain the best results.

• Choose a nice spraying bottle that can spread the mist evenly on your body.

• Take the tea tree oil and dilute it in any other oil or water. Make sure you have diluted the oil properly because using concentrated tea tree oil directly on the skin can result in rashes.

• If you are using water to dilute your oil, shake the spray bottle very well before use because we all know that oil and water do not mix until they are forced to.

Always remember not to use tea tree oil extraction products to dilute the oil. It will cause further problems rather than diluting the oil.

Also, make sure you choose the original tea tree oil to make your spray and not any product with many mixed substances.

2. Vicks Vaporub

As we all know, Vicks Vaporub has a very strong smell. It is a mixture of several oils like eucalyptus oil, camphor, cedar leaf oil, menthol, thymol, and turpentine oil. It explains the fact that it has such a strong smell.

There is no clear evidence that states vaporub ⁴is effective in preventing bed bug bites. It is used because it has a very strong and distinctive smell. If a person applies some quantity of Vicks on their body before sleeping, it will redirect the bed bugs in another direction.

They might want wan to stay away from a strong smell like this.

Using Vicks Vaporub before sleeping has many other advantages besides keeping bed bugs away.

• It helps in reducing stretch marks

• It is effective in treating earache

• If it is applied to the chest before sleeping, it also clears the nose.

Sometimes, even after following everything mentioned above, people might still not get rid of the problem of bed bugs. In this case, it is suggested you call the pest control specialists. They will clean your bed and remove all bed bugs from the house.

Conclusion

Bed bugs can be a major disturbance in everyone’s life. Imagine laying on the bed peacefully at night and experiencing something biting you from under the matter.

Feels disgusting, right? But there is nothing to worry about. The question of how to prevent bed bug bites is so popular these days. If you follow all the steps mentioned above, we hope you can eliminate the nasty bed bugs.

We wish you the best in getting rid of these creatures!

1. Akhoundi, Mohammad, et al. “Bed bugs (Hemiptera, Cimicidae): overview of classification, evolution and dispersion.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17.12 (2020): 4576. ↩︎
2. Wu, Yuqin, et al. “Relationship between ABO blood group distribution and clinical characteristics in patients with COVID-19.” Clinica chimica acta 509 (2020): 220-223. ↩︎
3. Leone, Robert D., and Jonathan D. Powell. “Metabolism of immune cells in cancer.” Nature reviews cancer 20.9 (2020): 516-531. ↩︎
4. Sipkova, Zuzana, and Jonathan H. Norris. “Unilateral Miosis Secondary to Ocular Exposure to Vapor Rub Ointment.” American Journal of Therapeutics 29.1 (2022): e160-e162. ↩︎

Last Updated on July 24, 2024 by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology