Let's celebrate Mosquito Day with a big round of applause

The joke, of course, refers to how we usually get rid of mosquitoes: by clapping our hands together to squash them. And that is one of the toughest summer missions, especially when tropical nights tempt us to throw the windows wide open.

The reason more mosquitoes come inside the hotter it gets is simple: our body temperature rises, emitting more CO², which attracts the females to feed. Therefore, keeping your home properly cooled helps reduce this attraction, while also helping you get a good night's sleep.

The dilemma lies in how to cool the room – and ourselves – while guaranteeing that mosquitoes stay away. The answer lies in a combination of timings and techniques that can help you pull this off. And as we will see, these ideas start long before night falls.

The perfect strategy: ventilate at dawn, avoid the daytime heat, and use the AC when necessary

Fortunately, the best strategy for keeping unwanted visitors out is exactly the same as the one for saving on your electricity bill while cooling the house: refresh, retain, and refrigerate.

• Step 1: Refresh the indoor air during the coolest part of the day, usually at dawn. This also happens to be when mosquitoes retreat to rest, as direct sunlight is one of th         
• Step 2: Retain that cool air for as long as possible. Keep windows and blinds cosed, with awnings pulled down, during the hottest hours of the day. Nowadays, you can get accessories like thermal curtains, which provide extra insulation to keep the heat out and the cool air in.
• Step 3: Refrigerate, but don't abuse the air conditioning. Thinking a freezing room will kill off the mosquitoes is highly inefficient: you would need to keep the house below 10ºC to pull that off. It is better to use your cooling systems in moderation – only when you really need them – and to combine the AC with a fan or other systems like evaporative coolers.

Fly screens: your best allies for night-time ventilation

We know that, especially on cooler August nights, one of summer's greatest pleasures is sleeping with the window open. Mosquitoes seem to know this too, which is why humans invented mosquito nets over 2,000 years ago.

The greatest proof of their effectiveness is that we still make them today. Whether fixed, sliding, pleated, magnetic, roller, or draped over the bed, insect screens are an excellent way to enjoy a refreshing, bug-free sleep without having to blast the air conditioning.

Even so – and making sure there are no mosquitoes inside before putting the screens to use – it is important to choose the right time of night to open your windows. If you live in a city, the tarmac and building facades often continue to radiate the heat absorbed during the day until well into the night. So, waiting a little longer or checking the temperature difference between inside and outside will help you get it right.

Blades vs. wings: do fans keep mosquitoes away?

The short answer is no, but with a few caveats. Some people think the noise of a fan's motor annoys mosquitoes, but it doesn't bother them any more than it bothers you. And the breeze from the fan isn't strong enough to create a draught that sweeps them out of the room.

However, a fan does produce two effects that make it quite helpful for fighting the heat and the buzzing:

• First, it creates air currents. While not exactly a devastating tornado, they do generate slight turbulence that interferes with the flight path of smaller mosquitoes. This forces them to land more often, making them easier to spot so you can use the age-old extermination methods: bug spray and a slipper.
• The second effect is that the fan disperses the carbon dioxide we exhale while sleeping, making it harder for mosquitoes to pinpoint their next meal. While CO² isn't the only clue that leads them to our skin (they also track temperature, body odour, and even human silhouettes), we'll be making their job much harder while enjoying a pleasant and cheap cooling breeze.

How can air conditioning help you sleep soundly?

Despite using more electricity than a fan, air conditioning has the actual capacity to lower the room temperature, making it a favourite for the warmest nights. It's popular for its cooling power, but also because it can make coexisting with mosquitoes a little easier.

Why does it help? By lowering our body heat and reducing sweating, we emit fewer signals for mosquitoes to pick up on. We can boost this effect by setting the AC to fan mode, so the unit also circulates the air and diffuses the CO² we produce. It won't completely eliminate them, but every little helps.

The hidden downside of air conditioning

Efficacy aside, we need to watch out for one factor that can turn our AC against us: it is crucial to properly manage the water produced by condensation. If it builds up outside or the drainage pipe isn't cleaned, it creates the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes to lay their eggs and reproduce. 

We also need to avoid swapping the annoyance of bug bites and heat for the shock of a massive electricity bill. Air conditioning is the biggest driver of electricity consumption in summer, and can even double an average household's usage during a heatwave. It is therefore worth keeping a few things in mind so those costs don't pile up:

• Eco mode can cut your AC's consumption by 20% to 30%, though it's less effective if the room is boiling and needs cooling quickly.
• Sleep mode also uses less energy than the standard setting, cooling the room quickly before adjusting the power as the night goes on.
• Fan mode adds a tiny amount of consumption, similar to a standalone fan, circulating the air around the room to make it feel cooler without having to generate more cooling capacity.

Remember! For every degree the unit has to cool below 24ºC, it uses about 8% more electricity.

Keeping mosquitoes out and sleeping well without filling the house with gadgets

Over the years, countless solutions have popped up – some making miraculous claims – to fight off summer mosquito attacks.

Experts agree that, despite our best efforts, the most effective way to eliminate them is still to use approved insecticides, whether that's bug spray, plug-in repellents, or treating your fly screens with them. And the best way to keep them out of your home is by using physical barriers.

Therefore, filling your house with plugged-in gadgets like ultrasonic repellents, UV bug zappers, or citronella, lemon eucalyptus, and lavender diffusers won't do much good.

You are much better off managing your ventilation, humidity, and climate control. When combined with fly screens and insecticides, this makes life difficult for mosquitoes and helps you sleep without the heat. And without breaking the bank.

Before bed: your anti-heat and anti-mosquito checklist

1. Cool the room before going to sleep. You will create a better environment for drifting off, avoiding the cost of cooling the room rapidly with the AC.

2. If you are going to leave the window open overnight, use fly screens. They let the cool breeze in and keep the mosquitoes out.

3. Select your AC's eco, sleep, and/or fan modes depending on the conditions, to cut down on consumption.

4. If the bedroom isn't overly hot, you'll save money by using a fan instead of the AC.

5. Before getting into bed, do a quick visual sweep of the room to spot any mosquitoes and take them out with an aerosol bug spray.

6. Use a plug-in repellent. For very little electricity, it will keep the room much better protected all night long.