How Do I Deal With Ticks?

[Music] greetings everyone i'm adam harrington and in this video i'm going to discuss how i deal with ticks and how i'm able to comfortably spend so much time outside in a state pennsylvania that has one of the highest rates of lyme disease in the nation the reason i decided to film a video in tix is because it's probably the most requested video that i haven't done but rather than tell you what you should do and how you should deal with ticks i'm only going to tell you what i do based on my experiences living in prime tick territory i implement a rather minimalist strategy compared to some people but the important thing to keep in mind is that it's still a strategy it's very intentional and i take it seriously because it's very personalized i'm actually not quite sure that my strategy would work for everyone therefore in this video i'm not giving you advice and telling you how you should deal with ticks i'm simply answering a common question that i receive i'm telling you how i deal with ticks specifically deer ticks because those seem to be the most common ticks where i live here in western pennsylvania to simplify matters i'm going to break down my strategy into six major components awareness maneuvering clothing inspection removal and diet before we dig into each component i want to mention a few things that i don't do so i don't use any repellents like diet or permethrin now i understand that many people love permethrin and swear by it and i think it's very good i still don't use it i don't duct tape my socks around my pants and i don't throw my clothes in the dryer immediately upon returning home simply because i don't have a dryer at home but if i did have a dryer i would probably use it so if i don't do any of those things then what do i do to deal with ticks well let's start with awareness i'm starting with awareness because it's such a basic component of my strategy and what i'm about to say might seem too simple and too obvious but it's for that very reason that awareness makes the list i am aware that ticks exist i am aware that ticks thrive in pennsylvania i am aware that ticks are active every single month of the year in pennsylvania i am aware that anytime i'm in a field in the woods in a backyard in some kind of natural setting ticks could be very active ticks could make their way onto my body and ticks could bite me now of course ticks are more active during certain times of the year and they are less active during other times of the year early spring when the ephemeral wildflowers are blossoming and the morels are appearing deer ticks are quite active in my neck of the woods late january when several inches of snow have been on the forest floor and temperatures have been below freezing for many weeks deer ticks are less active here's the thing though no matter the weather no matter the time of the year i still head into the woods as if a tick could find its way onto my body it really doesn't take any extra work to maintain this awareness it's simply a shift in mindset what i've seen over the years is that many people get bit by ticks because they don't expect to get bit by ticks a person may be sitting on a park bench somewhere or lounging in their backyard and have zero awareness that ticks could be active because this person has zero awareness a tick finds its way onto the person's body it bites them and it stays embedded in their body for quite a long time so simply understanding that ticks are members of my ecosystem and that they could be very active even when i wouldn't expect them to be active is a very important and fundamental part of my strategy next let's discuss maneuvering or how i make my way through wilder habitats notice that i'm not using the word moving even though it seemingly describes the same thing i'm using the word maneuvering because it implies skillful movement rather than unintentional unconscious movement this concept goes hand in hand with the first concept i'm aware that i'm much more likely to encounter a tick if i dig through the leaf litter or if i brush up against a certain shrub tall grass or an herbaceous stock if i'm walking in the middle of a wide trail i know that a tick is much less likely to latch onto my pants or my shirt if i can stay on a trail and avoid brushing up against shrubs tall grasses or dried flowering stocks i will do that but that's not always feasible nor is it always fun and on almost every occasion when i'm out in a wilder habitat i do leave the main trail i bushwhack i follow deer trails and i generally get into some pretty thick stuff when i do get into these thicker situations i still try my best not to brush up against too many things that wood harbor ticks and i do still try to maneuver very skillfully even through thick stuff it takes time it takes a lot of effort and you end up using some muscles that you didn't even know that you had but it is very possible to maneuver skillfully through thick stuff perhaps more importantly though is that when i do end up in these thicker situations i'm fully conscious that my tic exposure level is increasing and i take additional steps to reduce getting bit in a few moments i'll discuss some of these additional steps let's now discuss clothing one part of my strategy is to wear lighter colored pants so my favorite pair of pants to wear when i'm out in the woods is this pair right here and as you can see they're light gray in color sometimes i'll wear pants that are light brown now i've noticed over the years that ticks usually or almost always show up on my body somewhere below my waist and they crawl up my body from there because deer takes a very dark in color they're easy to see on pants that are light gray now be honest with you a lot of my shirts tend to be darker in color and i'm okay with that because as i said before ticks usually latch onto my body below my waist somewhere on my pants if i can get them off early i don't have to worry about them crawling higher up my body now in the summer season when it's very hot and very humid i will wear shorts in the woods even in habitats that harbor a lot of ticks and in these situations i will take additional steps to reduce getting bit by ticks in a few seconds i'll discuss these additional steps let's move on to inspection which along with diet must be starred because i feel that these two components are often overlooked and not given enough attention despite their effectiveness inspection simply means looking over my body in a disciplined manner and determining whether or not a tick is on my body and whether or not a tick is embedded in my body if i'm walking in the middle of a trail or in open woods i don't feel the need to check my body too often when i brush up against something i am much more likely to briefly look down to see if a tick is crawling on me i don't usually stop to do this i continue walking and i simply look down for a few seconds while walking now if i walk through thick stuff because there's no other way for me to get from here to there i'll maneuver as best i can through the thick stuff and then i'll usually stop when i get out of it and briefly inspect my clothing and any exposed limbs now inspection doesn't stop there though when i get home i inspect my body extremely thoroughly full body mirror no clothes i'm checking every square inch of my body and in peak tick season i also employ the assistance of my girlfriend who checks my body up and down and all around usually when i get home but almost always before we go to bed at night and she's checking me with a flashlight to make sure that there's not a single tick embedded in my body now i cannot stress how important this is and honestly if i didn't have her to inspect me in this way i would strongly consider having a good friend do it because it really is that important now obviously in late january lots of snow on the ground freezing temperatures i'm not really spending much time checking my body i'll still briefly look it over but not too thoroughly but in peak tick season i'm checking multiple times per day in the field and at home and my girlfriend is checking me sometimes two or three times per day at home it's really not as challenging nor as time consuming as it sounds because during the summer season around the house i'm not wearing a lot of clothes to begin with no shirt no socks usually just a pair of shorts so i'm casually looking at my body periodically throughout the day and either i or my girlfriend will notice if something seems different so over the years i've learned to become very comfortable with my body i've learned every scar every blemish every birthmark and i've made it a priority to find every tick before it bites me now that doesn't always happen obviously and if a tick is embedded in my body i want to reduce the amount of time that it has been feasting on my blood to reduce the amount of time that it has been feasting on my blood i diligently check my body more than once this is absolutely essential particularly in peak tick season speaking of embedded ticks let's discuss removal i've seen all kinds of tick removal devices over the years i've used several of them and i found that a pair of standard tweezers works perfectly for me so these are the tweezers that i use and i currently store them in my backpack they only leave my backpack when i need to use them or in this case when i need to talk about them on camera otherwise they stay in my backpack and they're ready to be used when necessary they effectively remove adult deer ticks and also the nymphs and lastly let's discuss diet something that people rarely if ever mention when discussing ticks and in my opinion this is a big mistake i truly feel that a healthy body is much more likely than an unhealthy body to ward off illness associated with a tick bite now i'm not saying that a healthy body will be able to naturally repel ticks though maybe it could but i do believe that symptoms of a tick-borne illness can be worsened by poor dietary choices now people naturally wonder what diet do i recommend well i'm not recommending any diet to you without knowing who you are but what i personally eat very broadly speaking is an intentional anti-inflammatory diet now i could spend an entire video and probably an entire series of videos discussing this topic but for brevity's sake i'll just mention three major components that constitute my diet number one i limit sugar consumption number two i am very careful to balance my omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid intake number three and this is something that i rarely see anyone talk about i make sure i consume adequate amounts of pre-formed vitamin a not pro-vitamin a like beta-carotene and other carotenoids but pre-formed vitamin a and i do this through food and not through supplementation yes there are risks associated with too much preformed vitamin a consumption but the body does need some of it in order to function optimally people then ask me do i eat this way before or after i get bit by a tick and i respond before tick bite eat anti-inflammatory diet after tick bite eat anti-inflammatory diet in other words this is just how i eat on a regular basis now what i'm about to say might seem really strange to a lot of people but i'm gonna say it anyway and i'm very serious with what i'm about to say i've come to realize over the years that a tick is one of my greatest nutrition teachers in that it's a constant reminder of what i must eat in order to maintain robust health doing something that i absolutely love spending time with the land and engaging intimately with the land if i make careless errors with my diet that's my fault and a tick will surely let me know now some people think this way of eating is too restrictive and i know that this is actually how i was meant to eat now just because ticks guide my nutritional choices to some degree i'm not saying that ticks and i are best friends i'm not saying i want them around i'm not saying i really enjoy having them in my life but while i wouldn't really consider them to be adversaries either i do think that something benjamin franklin said many years ago applies to our discussion love your enemies he said for they tell you your faults how aware are you as you engage with the land how aware are you of your diet how aware are you of your bodily health do you think you are invincible wouldn't it be something if a tick could help us answer those questions so in conclusion these are the six major components of my strategy awareness maneuvering clothing inspection removal and diet again this is just what i do not necessarily what i think you should do thank you so much for watching this video i truly appreciate it if you enjoyed it and if you're not subscribed to the learn your land youtube channel i encourage you to subscribe to the learn your land youtube channel you can also head on over to learnyourland.com and sign up for the email newsletter so that we can stay in touch and if you are on social media feel free to give learn your land a follow on instagram and on facebook thanks again for watching i'll see you on the next video [Music] you

Channel: Learn Your Land

Views: 399,583

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Id: l2P1YuauIXA

Length: 14min 30sec (870 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 07 2022