The majority of people begin nipping their nails as children. This habit can persist well into adulthood for many individuals. The most frequent cause is biting the nail’s vicinity, which can cause painful and inflamed skin that may become infected.
Nail biting, like most habits we become accustomed to, may be an action that we don’t even realize we’re performing since it’s so routine to us, making the notion of quitting seem unattainable for many individuals. Fortunately, there are solutions and methods available to assist you in quitting. So, whether you bite your nails because of a compulsion problem, anxiety, or boredom, here’s how to stop forever.
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The Woes of Nail Biting
Despite how tempting it may be, biting your nails can have several negative consequences. Chronic nail biting might lead to irreversible damage to the tissue that encases the nail, which subsequently affects how the nail grows.
If this tissue is injured, the nails may grow and develop abnormally, resulting in a strange or jagged appearance. Biting your nails repeatedly raises the risk of germs from your fingertips migrating to your mouth, and you may get sick or develop an infection.
One of the most common negative effects of biting your nails, however, is irritation of the nail bed skin. It can also cause the cuticle to become red and painful, which might lead to bacterial infections – some of which produce painful pus-filled blisters. Unfortunately, this leads to most individuals being driven to bite their nails even more to alleviate the discomfort – which is why the sooner you can stop, the better.
If you think your nail-biting is a symptom of a more serious condition, such as anxiety or depression, you must talk to your doctor or healthcare professional. Nail-biting might be an indication of a psychological or emotional issue, so if you think it applies to you, seek expert help.
How To Stop Biting Your Nails
The experts at Express Pharmacy have provided instructions to help you permanently stop biting your nails so that they may grow healthy, glossy, and strong.
1. Determine What Triggers You To Bite
For the majority of individuals, a trigger will cause them to bite their nails. What are the triggers that cause you to want chocolate, and how can you prevent them? Are they emotional or mental factors like anxiety, stress, anger, or boredom that create the urge? Is it a physical trigger like a hangnail or a ripped cuticle? Knowing what causes you to bite may assist you in comprehending why you do it and how to quit. Many individuals can break a habit if they feel in command of the situation, so knowing when you’ll be tempted to start chewing may help you feel secure enough to avoid that scenario in the future.
2. Keep Nails Trimmed Short, Neat and Tidy
It’s reasonable to assume that if you want to bite your nails less, you’ll have fewer nails to bite! There will be less opportunity for you to bite if your nails are kept short and well-groomed, so it will also be less tempting for you to do so. If you’re used to fake, long nails coated in polish and art, this may be incentive enough to stop. Pledge yourself that you’ll only pamper yourself with your favorite manicure after you’ve stopped chewing your natural nails. For others, this incentive may be the reverse. If you don’t chew your nails frequently, purchasing them might cause you to avoid doing so.
3. Take a Step-by-Step Approach to Quit Destructive Habits.
Instead of quitting cold turkey, you might discover that the gradual and steady technique is more effective for you. This entails attempting to stop biting one nail at a time, eventually leaving them all alone. If you bite your thumbnails, you may start with them, and after getting used to not doing so, try biting them. The nails on your hands are the first to stop biting, followed by the index fingers, middle fingers, and little fingernails. Alternatively, you could attempt to quit biting both of your hands simultaneously.
4. Use Unpleasant-Tasting Polish On Your Nails
Bitter-tasting nail polish is available from chemists and pharmacies to assist individuals in stopping biting their nails. The varnish has a foul, bitter flavor that makes you hesitant to chew or bite your nails.
5. Instead of breaking the habit, try swapping it for a non-harmful one.
If you’re having trouble quitting nail biting due to emotional factors, consider substituting the habit with a beneficial or harmless pastime instead. This consists of pursuing a different interest whenever you feel a pang of desire bite. Squeezing a stress ball, playing with a Rubik’s cube, playing with putty, or doodling in a journal are all examples of innocuous behaviors that may be done on the move.
