If you’re a worrier then you probably have little mannerisms that show up when you’re under stress. The most common one is biting one’s nails. If it is a compulsive habit then it is called onychophagia.
This is not just an occasional grab at your nails but an obsessive need to bite the nails down to the very cuticle and beyond. It can lead to sores and infections of the hand not to mention transferring infection to your mouth and body from dirt or pathogens under the fingernails. It may hinder you from working as you may have pain and be unable to use your hands. You may even feel embarrassed to display your hands with the bitten down nails.
Nail biting can be an unconscious habit that you indulge in even if you are engaged in some other task such as phoning or cooking. It can also be a main activity when you give all your attention to the activity of paring the nail down to the nail bed and to the cuticles till they bleed. It gives the biter some kind of security and so you resort to it. Either of them could be because of an inner urge that you feel and the activity comforts you.
You could also be doing it out of a sense of boredom. It can alternatively lessen or increase levels of stimulation. Compulsive nail biters may feel that they have to constantly tear away at the nail to get it into a “proper” shape. This kind of nail biting could be loosely classified as an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Whichever kind of activity you indulge in you must realize that it is time to stop.
If you can manage to stop by sheer willpower then that is good. All you have to do is tell yourself it’s a bad habit and go over the harm it is doing you and gradually lessen the intensity of it. (Some women paint their nails a pretty color and admire themselves so that gives them a motivation to stop biting.) But most people, even if they are disgusted by the habit, continue to do it because they are unable to stop themselves. For these sufferers there are remedies. One is to coat the fingers and nails with an anti-nail biting cream.
These taste foul and so naturally will stop you from wanting to bite your nails. Gradually over time as you are dissuaded by the cream to eat your nails the urge goes down and you become accustomed to not biting. This is called “aversion therapy” and another form of it is to have a rubber band round your wrist that someone can pull and snap when you start biting. The pain will gradually be associated with the nail biting and you will stop the one to prevent the other.
Hypnosis is also considered as a treatment and can help you control your habit. If the condition is very strong, however, you may need medication and behavioral therapy, as the roots could be psychological or to do with the chemistry of the brain. The cause might even be genetic. You will be taught to “unlearn” the habit of nail biting and substitute it with something more productive. You’ll also be taught to identify what triggers off your nail biting so that you can control yourself in the event of such stimulus and slowly eliminate the habit.
Do what it takes to stop your nail biting habit and show off those smart capable hands!
23 Comments:
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sorry, but its a bad one i saw another one which was better than that! but its ok.
you can make it more attractive to people by adding many pictures showing the steps instead
of writting.
i hope you will listen to my advice this will make more people to open these pages.
this is because many people dont like reading so what you are supposed to do is adding
pictures, diagrams, documentery (which is the best advice – like a video clip – showing people
how to stop).
thax for your cooperation.
Yes, I completely agree, nadine. It is absolutely vital that people be encouraged to disable the comprehensive areas of their brains so they can be spoon fed information rather than put the effort toward focusing on reading and increasing the attention span so more data can be assimilated.
(I know it’s a good 3 years old, but I couldn’t resist.)
“what you are supposed to do is adding pictures…”
You know, if 2012 is truly the Golden Age, it’ll be amusing to watch people, brain-dead from not having to work their noggins, putting any effort into pronouncing “personal enlightenment” let alone experiencing it. Then again, that Black Adder quote may be particularly apposite: “To you, Baldrick, the Renaissance was just something that happened to other people, wasn’t it?”
Thank you for this article, Kavita. Even without the crayon and Fisher Price jingly jingly, it is most informative. Would nails, finger or toe, have any impact on the digestive system when consumed?
Um excuse me, this was perfect! There was nothing wrong with this info so idk what your talking about.
I have this bad habbit
I’ve been looking for this kind of aticles, this is one of the most complete I’ve ever read.
Really like the last line..
bye.
i support the previous comment. its a really useful article!!thanks to the writer of this article
i am a nail biter as well. this article is very helpful and i really liked it. the ‘paint my nails so i won’t bite” yea ive tried it. it actually does work if you’re one of those girls who likes to be nice, pretty and neat. as for the anti-nail biting cream… ive never heard of it, let alone tried it, and i dont know where to find it. local walmart super centers dont seem to carry any. overall, this article is the best ive read so far. (btw, i dint think it needs images or videos. in my opinion, they’re too distracting.)
This article is very good and I like it very much I eat my nails all the time and I have to say im a good looking guy and the only problem I have is my nails and girls do not dig that at all… its true we all bite our nails to give it a proper shape but that never works I am going to by myself the thing to put in my nails and lets see if it really does work
I’m an adult married male who is a lifelong nail-biter. I can understand children sticking their fingers in their mouth. But the concept of a grown man putting his filthy fingers in the mouth to eat his nails seems repulsive. Despite that, I do it all the time everywhere. I can understand why people look slightly disgusted when they see my nubby fingers or watch me eat my nails, but it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care what people think about my nail-biting. As a confession, I also bite my toenails to the nubs. What can I say? I’m hard-wired to eat my nails and probably will never stop.
Hahaha this person is me . I don’t think we will ever change .
me 2 Iam male , 19 years old I can not stop it , I tried and used some of this way but they had no effect, but I think using antinail biting cream may has effect but how can i get it.
i am also a nail biter..i am eating nails from last 11 yrs.and its genetic .my mother also eat nails..i also tried each and every thing ..but i think now it is the anti nail biting cream which is the omly hope for me..
frds.plz rply if u think there is another good method
I am 22 and I have been a nail biter my whole life. When I was a kid my mom tried everything she could think of to get me to stop biting my nails. Nothing worked! She even bought something similar to the anti biting cream but it didn’t work. It tasted horrible but I eventually got used to the nasty taste and kept biting anyways. I think its disgusting but I don’t know if ill ever be able to stop. I’ve been doing it for so long that now just the thought of growing finger nails freaks me out. It give me the creeps!
Comment by Sehaj
2011-03-23 03.20
I am 15 years old and I am eating my nails when I was a child . My mom always punish me for eating nails . I want to stop this habit.Please gave me suggestion by which i can stop eating nails.I want to grow my nails.
I eat nails too. I problem is that I like to pay with the nail in my mouth. Is there any kind of artificial nail, if you will, that is similar.
whoops…play…
I enjoyed the article. Unfortunately words can not convey all the feelings about it. We all want to stop, but it seems stronger than us.
Once or twice, I could stop for 3 months, but then, I started with one, than another one…Man, its terrible!
However, I say to all: Do not give up!
Someone said about pictures. What about pictures of hands before and after, like those pictures of loosing weight…?
Bye
Im a nail biter and always hace been! The only way i kno of is to stick your hands or dip them in.a taste or smell you hate! It worked on. me! Nothing else did!
really good info!! Hope it helps!
im not joking but thanks for this, im 17 and its got so intense with my nails i hate my hands, and im affraid to show them to people, do you know of anywhere i can get this cream?
I’m 40 yrs old. I remember having this habit since my childhood memory. As any other Mom, she was always behind me to stop this nasty habit. When I was older, she told me your child will grow up and bite like you ( just to embarrass me ). Hmm…no use. I work in IT, we have to either draw on the board, or piece of paper or use key board in front of others, especially women, I feel ashamed. My bitting is on and off. I stop thinking it is unhealthy and the perceptions of others on my looking at my chewed or almost bleeding fingers. Whenever I stop, in a week my finger and nail looks good; I really love them. When I bite and make it horrible, I wouldn’t even want to see my hands (let alone others). I feel better in writing this hoping this forum will go hard-wired into my brain to stop this habit
I agree it has somethng 2du w genetics,n my family all of them they bit and they dnt hav nail at all,and m sure they wil not stop.
i think so too. My dad and brother would also do the same.
I had it since i was 2. And i stopped it for how many times but if i feel stressed so much, i wuld just go again to biting my nails.
Its just embarassing.
Love it!! Thanks who ever you are ! And stop hating this is good info!