Goodknight Care October 2, 2020

How to Make Your Home a Safe Environment

After the hot and humid days, the much-awaited monsoon season is here. Monsoons provide respite from the summer heat and bring everything around us to life. Greenery and chirping birds surround us and it is such a pleasantly welcoming sight. However, not everything about monsoons is worth welcoming. The onset of rains brings with it a host of diseases and infections. The humid climate in monsoons provides favourable conditions for the mosquitoes to breed and spread many infectious diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya.

When mosquitoes bite a little itching follows and it gets fine after that. It’s nothing to worry about. What is worrisome is the fact that mosquitoes carry all kinds of infectious diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya. A mosquito bite is enough to make you sick.

Also, during monsoon season, our immune system is weakened, making us even more susceptible to water-borne and mosquito-borne diseases. But it is very easy to keep the family safe from mosquito-borne diseases. Simple lifestyle changes and inculcating good hygiene practices in day to day life can provide you and your family safe and effective protection from all mosquito-borne diseases.

How to Stay Safe from Mosquito-borne Diseases This Monsoon

To avoid contracting mosquito-borne diseases in monsoons, follow the following preventive measures:

1. Don’t allow water to stagnate: We all have heard about the importance of keeping the home and surroundings free of stagnant water, especially in monsoon. The rainwater might collect in some broken pots in your balcony, the railings, in the water coolers etc. These become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and your family might become susceptible to mosquito-borne diseases. Mosquitoes lay eggs near water and can breed in just 14 days in a minute amount of water standing in the birdbath or an old pot.

So follow the below steps to avoid stagnant water:

1. Make a habit of throwing out old items like trash pots, broken toys, planters, and buckets from your balcony that might hold water.
2. Once or twice a week empty and clean the pet bowls and birdbaths.
3. Keep a check on all leakages in and around your house. Don’t allow dampness and moisture to build up in any area as it will become a breeding ground for insects.
4. Plants with big leaves in your garden might hold water in the rainy season. Hence, it is best to trim your plants short in the rainy season and avoid mosquito-borne diseases.
5. If you see a heap of garbage around your home, please get it cleaned at the earliest. The filthy surroundings add to the spread of diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya.
6. Use Mosquito nets wherever possible: Using mosquito nets and mesh prevents mosquitoes from reaching you. Here are some ways you can use nets and mesh to keep away mosquitoes:
7. Use screens on windows to keep mosquitoes away. Usually, people have the habit of closing the windows and doors at sunset to avoid mosquitoes entering the house, but it might suffocate you in monsoons. Also, mosquitoes can easily slip through gaps between window panes. So consider using mesh and nets over the window panes, so that you can enjoy the rains without worrying about mosquito-borne diseases.
8. Regularly check for holes in the mesh and nets used over windows. Get them repaired immediately. A single hole is enough for a swarm of mosquitoes to enter your home and bring in mosquito-borne diseases.
9. As additional protection, use mosquito nets when kids sleep, especially for babies less than 2M old. It will prevent mosquito bites and give a good night sleep to the kids.
10. When you take babies out for a walk, use a net to cover the pram. Good Knight Fabric Roll-On should be applied on prams, cots and strollers to provide on-the-go protection to the babies especially to babies less than 2M old.
11. Use a personal mosquito repellent:  Female mosquitoes detect carbon dioxide released by us and the smell of our skin. They feed on our blood which provides them proteins to lay eggs. But when you use mosquito repellent, it masks the triggers and blocks the smell of your skin. So even if a mosquito accidentally sits on your skin, it won’t bite because it isn’t getting the right signal for feeding. Hence, mosquito repellents keep you protected and safe from mosquito-borne diseases.
12. However, parents are sceptical of using a personal mosquito repellent for babies less than 2M old. But you can use a baby-safe personal mosquito repellent. Check for its active ingredients on the product label. If it uses 100% natural active ingredients then it is baby safe and can be used safely. GoodKnight Fabric Roll-On is the perfect personal mosquito repellent for everyone in the family. It is paediatrician certified and baby safe personal mosquito repellent. GoodKnight Fabric Roll-On is made of 100% natural active ingredients. Each bottle of GoodKnight Fabric Roll-On consists of pure citronella and eucalyptus oils. Mosquitoes hate the smell of these essential oils and hence, they are known to work wonders as mosquito repellents. Follow the below steps to effectively use personal mosquito repellent:
13. Don’t overuse the mosquito repellent. GoodKnight Fabric Roll-On is very effective and 4 dots only, applied on the clothes keep the mosquitoes away.
14. Some people believe that applying the personal mosquito repellent on the skin would be more effective. However, that’s not true. 4 dots only, applied on the clothes are sufficient to give you safe and effective protection from all mosquitoes.
15. For babies less than 2M old, GoodKnight Fabric Roll-On can be applied on the prams, cots or strollers.
16. Even at home, you should use mosquito repellent because the mosquitoes can enter your house from the slightest and the smallest crack below your doors or the mesh over window panes. So mosquito repellent can also be applied on beds, curtains, table cloth, to keep the mosquitoes away.
17. GoodKnight Fabric Roll-On gives up to 8-hour protection from mosquitoes including the deadly ones responsible for causing dengue, malaria and chikungunya. So it is advisable to use it on the pillows while sleeping. If your kids find the smell strong, then you can apply it on the mattress near their feet or on their track pants or socks for a carefree and peaceful sleep at night.

Goodknight Fabric Roll-On is available in 2 fragrance variants – citrus and bubblegum. So, pick-up one of your choice and stay safe from mosquito-borne diseases in monsoons.

• Choose the right kind of clothes for monsoons: You read that right. Choosing the right clothes for monsoon season can save you and your family from mosquito bites and hence, mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya.  Here are a few things you should consider while choosing the clothes for everyone in the family, even for babies less than 2M old.
• Wear full sleeve clothes in the monsoons. Full sleeve shirt and full pants should be worn in the rainy season to reduce the exposed skin area, hence reduce the chances of mosquito bites.
• For babies less than 2M old, you can make them wear mittens and booties to cover their hands and feet too.
• Wear loose-fitting clothes for safe and effective protection from all mosquitoes. This is the best defence against mosquito bites, even for babies less than 2M old. Mosquitoes can sit on your clothes and penetrate through them to reach your skin. However, when you wear loose-fitting clothes, the mosquitoes are unable to sting your skin and you can stay safe from mosquito-borne diseases. On the other hand, if you wear tight-fitting, body-hugging full sleeves clothes, then it becomes easy for the mosquitoes to reach your skin and bite you through the clothes.
• Wear light coloured clothes and this is applicable even for babies less than 2M old. Mosquitoes are said to be attracted to dark coloured clothes, especially black. So if you are wearing a black t-shirt or kurta, then your chances of being surrounded by mosquitoes is much higher. So wear light coloured clothes which look soothing in the humid weather and also provide you with safe and effective protection from all mosquitoes and the mosquito-borne diseases.
• Stay protected every time you step out, especially at dusk and dawn: Just like humans, mosquitoes too crave a meal at particular times of the day. And it is usually at dusk and dawn. That’s why mosquitoes are the most active in the evenings. So when your kids are moving out to play in the evenings or you are stepping out for some shopping, make sure you make the kids wear proper clothes and use GoodKnight Fabric Roll-On. 4 dots only applied on clothes will give you and your kids, safe and effective protection from all mosquitoes. GoodKnight Fabric Roll-On gives up to 8-hour protection from mosquitoes.
• Avoid scented products: When you have to move outdoors, try to avoid perfumes, soaps and lotions with a strong fragrance. Scented products are known to potentially attract mosquitoes which could easily make you their prey. Instead, use GoodKnight Fabric Roll-On on your clothes. Just 4 dots on your clothes and it will keep you safe from mosquitoes. It is available in 2 fragrances – citrus and bubblegum. When stepping out in monsoons, use the fragrance of this roll-on.
• Try to stay in air-conditioned rooms: Air-conditioned rooms are sealed and restrict the entry of mosquitoes. Also, cool and dry conditions are not favourable for mosquitoes. So if possible, in the hot and humid monsoon weather, sleep in air-conditioned rooms. If air-conditioned rooms are not possible then use mosquito nets while sleeping. Preferably always make the kids sleep under mosquito nets.
• Washrooms and balconies need attention: Regularly wash your bathrooms and balconies. In the monsoons, rainwater tends to collect in the corners of the balconies. Make sure the drainage in your balconies is proper and rainwater doesn’t collect on the floor. However, if rainwater is collecting in the cracks of the floors or in the corners of your balcony then please wipe it off using a wiper or mop.  Similarly, bathrooms should also be cleaned regularly and don’t leave water in the tubs and buckets. Develop the habit of inverting the tubs and buckets in the bathroom after usage.

In the rainy season, it is very easy to prevent mosquito-borne diseases. The best way is to avoid mosquito bites. Take necessary preventive measures and maintain proper hygiene levels. All the precautions to be taken in the rainy season should be inculcated as a habit and followed religiously. In addition to them, use a personal mosquito repellent indoors and outdoors too. These precautions are very easy and practical to follow in routine. So adopt a better lifestyle to enjoy rains and stay safe from all the mosquito-borne diseases that come with this season.