How do you protect yourself against tick bites?
Protective clothing, DEET on the skin and a thorough tick check after going outdoors together form a sensible strategy. If you have been bitten by a tick that was attached long enough, discuss with your general practitioner whether a single dose of doxycycline within 72 hours is appropriate.
Protective clothing is the most widely used measure: long trousers, closed shoes and tightly woven fabric in light colours reduce the chance of a tick reaching your skin. Light colours help because a crawling tick is easier to spot against them. Between 30 and 70 percent of people in risk areas do this routinely.
On the skin, the preferred repellent is one containing DEET. A study among forest rangers and orienteers found an effectiveness of 41 percent against tick contact, and as high as 66 percent on the arms. That is a useful but incomplete effect. Natural alternatives based on plant extracts (such as lemon eucalyptus extract, PMD) have also been studied, but on average they offer less protection than DEET, especially for people who are highly attractive to insects. Wristbands containing repellent, vitamin B1 tablets, garlic and acoustic devices demonstrably provide no protection and are best avoided.
Spraying or washing clothing with permethrin works differently: it kills ticks on contact and also acts as a repellent. Combining DEET on the skin with permethrin on clothing provides the strongest overall protection currently available.
After coming indoors, two things matter. Check your body thoroughly for ticks, especially behind the knees, in the groin area and along the hairline. Lyme disease is only transmitted to a significant degree after more than 24 hours of attachment, so a tick found and removed quickly poses little risk. Showering helps to detect ticks you might otherwise miss. Putting outdoor clothing in the tumble dryer on a high heat kills any ticks still in the fabric, although the practical effectiveness of these last two pieces of advice has not yet been sufficiently studied in everyday situations.
If you have been bitten by a tick that was attached long enough, a single dose of doxycycline (an antibiotic) of 200 mg, taken within 72 hours of the bite, is 87 percent effective at preventing Lyme disease. This applies only to high-risk bites and does not protect against other tick-borne infections. Discuss this with your general practitioner. One important caveat to the whole picture: none of the personal protective measures combined, including clothing and tick checks, have been shown in population studies to measurably reduce the incidence of Lyme disease. Only doxycycline after a bite has been clinically proven to do so. The measures are therefore worthwhile, but the certainty about their effect on Lyme incidence is smaller than you might expect.
This answer is based on several review studies and one randomised trial in humans, covering the use of repellents, clothing measures, tick checks and doxycycline prophylaxis. The evidence for doxycycline after a bite is the strongest: it rests on a randomised trial with a measured effectiveness of 87 percent. For clothing, DEET and tick checks the evidence is plausible and consistent, but the quality of evidence is moderate: there is not a single randomised trial demonstrating that these measures actually reduce disease incidence in the population. That is a notable weakness that the review studies themselves acknowledge.
How do I keep my joints supple and prevent osteoarthritis?
Exercise and maintaining a healthy weight are the best-supported ways to prevent osteoarthritis and manage symptoms; however, no treatment stops the disease once it has begun.
How do I keep my eyes healthy and prevent cataracts or macular degeneration?
Protect your eyes with UV-filtering glasses, a diet rich in vegetables and fruit, good diabetes management and regular eye check-ups. If cataracts have advanced significantly, surgery is the only proven solution.
Can I prevent or slow down early hearing loss?
Hearing loss caused by noise and by certain medications is very preventable, but for age-related hearing loss no proven interventions yet exist. The greatest gain comes from protecting your ears from loud sounds now.
Do you need to restrict protein intake to protect your kidneys?
If your kidneys are healthy, you do not need to restrict your protein intake. If you have chronic kidney disease, discuss with your doctor and dietitian whether a protein-restricted diet (0.6-0.8 g/kg/day) is appropriate, because without supervision you risk malnutrition.
What helps with osteoarthritis (joint wear)?
Exercise, losing weight where applicable in the case of excess weight, and an anti-inflammatory gel on the knee have the strongest supporting evidence; always discuss oral pain medication with your doctor because of the side effects.
What really keeps your mouth and gums healthy?
Daily brushing supplemented with interdental brushes is the best foundation for a healthy mouth; if you have diabetes, regular gum care pays extra dividends for your blood sugar.