I've Been Doing It All Wrong When It Comes to Bug Bites

What would you say is the most painful type of sting or bug bite you've ever had? My sister got stung by a hornet once when we lived on 11th Street. My ex got stung by a wasp and it totally made his arm swell up. Me, I had one bee sting and the rest of my life covered in mosquito bites. So. Yeah. I'm sure you have similar stories.

98% of people who've been stung by a hornet say it was painful, including 61% who said VERY painful. The rest of the top five are wasps, yellowjackets, fire ants, and jellyfish.

WELL. Next time you have a bug bite, or if you get stung, don't scratch it. A new study in the Journal of Neuroscience (Guys, it was a long, long internet rabbit hole, please don't ask how I found this) found there's a better way to deal with an itch. Instead of scratching, you should RUB.

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Scientists gave mice a chemical to make their skin itchy, then watched how the nerves in their spinal cord reacted to scratching versus rubbing. And they found that rubbing an itch sends the same signal to your brain as scratching it, AND offers the same relief.

They say rubbing an itch is a more efficient way of getting it to go away, even when you just randomly feel itchy. And scratching can also damage your skin or cause scars. So rubbing an itch is the better option.

I asked you guys on Facebook about your bug bite cures. I could use some, because... well. I have been bitten from head to toe and back again this year. Particularly my legs are bug bite central. Probably got some of those from the hour or so electricity outage we had the other day (I sat on my porch while the power was out). So I guess I'll try rubbing? I don't know.

What do you recommend to help with the itch of bug bites? Do you do something in particular to avoid it? Do you use a product, or something your parents or grandparents told you to do as a home remedy?

Itchily yours,
Behka