Know How To Stop Biting Your Nails
Every time you’re stressed or anxious, do you bite your nails? This troublesome habit can not only damage your nails and teeth but can also make you prone to infection as bacteria and viruses can pass from your nails to your mouth and face.
Nail biting usually starts in childhood and can continue through adulthood, and the side effects may be more than cosmetic. A repeated bite of the nail can cause the skin around your nails to feel sore and can damage the tissue that causes the nails to grow, leading to abnormal – looking nails.
Why Is It Bad To Bite Your Nails?
These are the main reasons why you should stop biting your nails:
1. It can make an abnormal growth of your nails:
Your nails can lose their shape on being bitten, giving them an unkempt look.
2. Your smile can be spoiled:
There is a risk that you will chip, crack or break your teeth while biting your nails. Nail biting can cause problems with your jaw over time as well.
3. It can cause disease:
No less than a hotbed for germs are your hands. These germs in your nails can remain perfectly hidden. These germs can enter your body when you bite your nails and increase your risk of becoming sick.
4. Social embarrassment:
Nail biting may also cause restrictions on social behaviors or behaviors that may need to be done in other people’s presence, such as drawing and writing.
5. Damages the nails and tissues around them:
The risk of an ingesting nail may increase and the surrounding tissues may damage it.
6. Can cause injuries to the gum:
It may also result in damage to the teeth root, oral infections, and oral injury due to scraping risk.
Now you know why your nails should stop biting! But, have you ever wondered what this strange habit might cause?
What causes the nails to be a bite?
Nail biting could be a sign of a basic condition of health. Temporary nail biting is not destroying. It can also become a long – term problem, however.
Uncontrollable nail bite, which causes damage to the nails and their surrounding tissues, is considered to be a grooming disorder. It is often called onychophagia or onychophagy. This condition is classified as “obsessive-compulsive and related disorder”
Other causes of nail biting are:
- The affected individual’s parents also had a similar habit of nail-biting
- Nervousness
- Anxiety
- Hunger
- Insecurity
Most cases of nail biting are caused by anxiety or boredom in children. Some kids also tend to find quite soothing this habit. As you have seen, the habit of nail biting might be triggered by a number of factors.
If you are a chronic nail biter and this habit has started to damage your nails, it is recommended that you seek medical help to identify your condition’s underlying cause.
If you are among those individuals who, during times of stress or anxiety, find themselves biting their nails and want to put an end to it, here are a few tricks that can help.
How to Stop Nails Biting?
1. Short Nails:
One of the best ways to prevent nail biting is to cut your nails short and keep them smooth. You will eventually kick the habit if you don’t have anything to chew on.
2. Get Manicure:
Manicures can make your hands and nails look attractive. You’ll be less likely to bite your nails because you don’t want to ruin the manicure.
3. Maintain a check on the triggers:
Find out what’s causing you to bite your nails. When you’re bored, do you bite your nails? Or is this anxiety plain? Studies have shown that when bored, hungry, nervous, or stressed, people, resort to nail biting. Identify the trigger to stop biting your nails and find ways to deal with it.
4. Use Nail Stickers or Gloves:
Using a pair of gloves or nail stickers is another way to stop biting your nails. While this may sound stupid, bite them will be much less tempted if your mouth can’t find your nails.
5. Keep Them Busy:
Yes, it could be the trick to keep your hands and mouth busy. Every time you’re tempted to bite your nails, pick up a stress ball or chew gum. If your hands and/or mouth are already worried, you won’t be able to bite your nails!
6. Use Bitter Nail Polish:
The use of bitter – degustation nail polish is an age-old trick to prevent nail bite
7. Try the approach gradually:
Overnight you can’t stop biting your nails. It’s a step by step process. Stop biting one fingernail at a time, tell your thumbnail, then stretch it out one by one to the other fingers until you gradually stop biting all the nails.
Try any of the above tips or a combination to see which one works best for you. Do you know of any other tips and hacks that might help you stop biting your nails?
Nail biting can be a sign of a more serious psychological or emotional problem for some people. If you have tried to quit repeatedly and the problem persists, consult a physician. Check with a dermatologist if you bite your nails and develop a skin or nail infection.
Also Read: Good Habits All Parents Need To Teach Their Children
