The problem of nail biting has been popular at all times, but people have become seriously interested in it only now. People who cannot get rid of this behavior turn to doctors and psychologists for advice, but the problem of getting rid of it cannot always be solved even with their help.
The habit of biting nails is medically called “onychophagia,” which translates as “eating nails.” But even knowing what will happen if you constantly bite your nails, some people find it difficult to get rid of this habit, because... many experts classify it as a form of neurosis. In children, nail biting may be associated with an atavistic desire to suck a finger to calm down and relieve anxiety when the mother is not in sight. In adulthood, the desire to bite nails is also associated with hidden stress, which a person tries to neutralize in a similar way.
Why is nail biting a habit dangerous?
Psychologists have long stated that the problem of nail biting is psychological in nature and appears either due to boredom or ongoing emotional stress. For example, when inactive, or in anticipation of an exciting event, a person unconsciously brings his fingers to his mouth. Thus, a person tries to convert energy into a kind of movement. This habit repels others: the sight of a person biting his nails is unpleasant
Onychophagia is harmful both from a medical and aesthetic point of view. The appearance of the nails suffers first of all: the plates become thinner, widen towards the end of nail growth and become short. Often, irregularities are observed on the nail plate. Women, in terms of eliminating such consequences, are luckier: deficiencies caused by habit can be corrected by building up artificial tips. However, this will not eliminate the habit of biting your nails. The extension procedure is expensive, so it is not available to everyone. It is much easier to prevent the destruction of the horny plates than to then waste time, money and nerves on treatment.
Those who like to bite their nails and put dirty hands in their mouth are in for a surprise: the risk of contracting infectious diseases in such people is 45%. Bacteria and microorganisms that fall from dirty hands onto the internal mucous membranes of the mouth acquire fertile soil for reproduction, which means they can easily provoke illness. In addition, by injuring the skin of the fingers near the nail fold, a person receives another possible source of inflammation. Such negative consequences can only be eliminated by completely eliminating the habit of nail biting. Subsequently, the infection can be transmitted through handshakes and touching an infected person, or through contact with other people's personal household items. However, for this to happen, the wound on the skin around the finger must be sufficiently open.
Causes of nail biting and solutions
Most often, the reason for biting nails lies in the psychological state of a person. These are childhood trauma, daily stress and other factors that cause emotional discomfort. It is impossible to break a habit unless the root cause is addressed. Let's look at the factors that most likely lead to nail biting:
Stress
To relieve stress, you need to completely change your routine. First of all, make sure that sleep occurs no later than 22-23 hours and lasts 8 hours. This duration of sleep helps improve physiological resources. You definitely need to set aside time to relax or engage in your favorite hobby, and include a mandatory relaxing walk in your daily routine.
Stress that arises against the background of a certain event disappears when a person’s emotional background comes into balance. Along with such stress, the habits acquired with its appearance disappear.
Boredom
In the absence of external stimuli, the brain independently activates involuntary reactions. This can include hand-wringing, scratching, or nail biting and hangnails. It is important during activities that limit movement (watching TV, reading a book) to hold an object in your hands that will replace the need to bite your nails. Any anti-stress toy will become such an item.
Copy
Children under the age of five tend to copy the behavior of adults. Therefore, if someone in the house already suffers from the habit of biting their nails, then with 100% probability the child will perceive this as a variant of the norm. Parents can either explain to the child that this should not be done, or distract attention until the child forgets about this action on his own.
It is quite difficult to wean yourself from biting your nails. The power of habit is much higher than the reasonable arguments of others or your own dissatisfaction. If the moment has come when a person is ready to give up his nail-biting habit, then only an integrated approach will make it possible to identify and eliminate the cause of the habit, as well as cure damaged nails.
What can happen if you don't stop biting your nails?
The consequences of nail biting, however, are not always pleasant for a person. Since there is a constant mechanical impact on nails and teeth simultaneously, this will be fraught with superficial damage for both. With weak tooth enamel, teeth may begin to crumble over time, especially if the nails are hard and rigid.
For nails, constantly biting the tips of the nail plate leads to splitting. Long-term exposure to human saliva softens nails and makes them vulnerable, so even with sufficient calcium and phosphorus in the body, nails can begin to split.
Other results, if you constantly bite your nails, will not keep you waiting either:
- if the rules of hand hygiene are not properly observed, intestinal infections are possible (remember the proverb “all diseases come from dirty hands”);
- deformation of the nail plates, which over time acquire an unsightly shape;
- inability to do a normal manicure;
- in children - deformation of the shape of the fingertips from constant exposure to wet saliva and teeth.
How to get rid of the habit of biting your nails
To get rid of the habit of biting your nails, answer honestly the questions: where and when do you have the desire to put your fingertips in your mouth. Make it a rule to monitor yourself and stop the action halfway if it has already begun. If talking to yourself doesn't help, then find something to replace the temptation to taste your fingers. These can be inanimate objects or food. For example, anti-stress toys that can be squeezed in moments of excitement, or rosary beads that can be fingered constantly when your hands are free, will come in very handy. As for food, dried or hard fruits, such as apples or pears, will help. However, if you bite your nails often, then this method is not convenient, as it disrupts your normal diet.
Take advantage of professional help from psychologists and attend several sessions. Perhaps these sessions will give you the opportunity to understand the underlying reasons for the experiences that led to the formation of the habit. During your appointments, use calming pharmaceuticals or homemade herbal infusions.
Sometimes it happens that without realizing it, people bite their nails if they feel hungry. Therefore, during the period when you are getting rid of addiction, monitor your diet and regimen.
Additional tricks to help you break the habit
Combining psychological methods of breaking a habit with other techniques is much more effective than each method individually. For example, buy bitter varnish at the pharmacy and treat your nail plates with it. The bitterness of the varnish will not allow you to put your hands in your mouth; over time, a reflex will develop: the brain will associate your fingertips with bitterness. It is also worth lubricating the skin around the plates with vegetable oils or any creams, since the skin there is often dry and cracked.
As mentioned above, women can get their nails done. There is a chance that the habit will disappear, but it is not as high as with an integrated approach. Usually the extended plates are hard, but there may be imprints from teeth on them - this will spoil the appearance of the manicure.
Since young children do not understand the principle of psychological introspection, they need to be weaned off using physical means. For example, cover your fingertips with adhesive tape. Be sure to accompany your actions with a story about why this is being done and what the habit of biting nails leads to. In addition, it is necessary that the child is constantly busy and does not remember about nails. Tell teenage girls in detail that their fingertips will take on an unaesthetic appearance in the future if the habit is not eradicated.
To summarize, we can only advise one thing: get rid of the problem of nail biting in a comprehensive manner. Seek help from a psychologist and use available home and pharmacy remedies.
Getting rid of the habit of biting your nails is also a social task. It is usually unpleasant for people around to watch and hear someone nearby biting their nails. If the problem is neurological in nature (an obsessive and irresistible desire), then the help of a specialist is needed. A psychologist and psychotherapist will determine the internal cause of onychophagia and prescribe therapy. You may need to take mild sedatives, which will reduce anxiety and increase stress resistance. Having learned what will happen if you constantly bite your nails, the patient can try to stop on his own, but with serious psycho-emotional factors this is usually not possible.
Nibbled nails, as can be seen in the photo, look very sloppy and unaesthetic, and the person biting them causes bewilderment. However, despite this, many of us have the habit of biting our nails. The problem is that it is very difficult to get rid of it, especially because most often it is formed in us in childhood.
Causes
The most common reason why you notice bitten nails in both children and adults is neuroses. Increased anxiety and prolonged exposure to stress lead to the emergence of this habit. Additionally, during periods of intense concentration, you may also unconsciously move your hands to your mouth. It is for this reason that many employees who work at a computer can see chewed nails only on their left hand, while the right hand is occupied with the mouse.
However, in some cases, people start biting their nails simply out of boredom, because there is “nowhere to put” their hands. Regarding children, we can say that they often copy the habits of adults. Take a closer look to see if you or any of your family members are biting their nails. Perhaps the child repeats after you and you need to get rid of the habit yourself before it takes hold in the child. After all, the sooner a habit takes hold, the more difficult it will be to fight it.
However, if the habit did not arise in childhood, but in adulthood and quite suddenly, then it is most likely a sign of increased nervousness. Try to understand at what point it arose and consult a psychologist for advice.
Distraction method
A good way to return bitten nails, as in the photo, to normal is to try to be distracted. The method is not bad for those who bite their nails due to nervous tension. As soon as you catch yourself biting your nail, distract yourself and replace this action with another one that also requires fine motor skills. Thanks to this, irritation will not increase in you due to the need to control yourself.
There are currently many anti-stress devices available. These include balls, and all kinds of tabletop devices such as pendulums, and even jewelry with movable elements. Thus, as soon as you feel the urge to bite your nails, start moving the bracelet element or squeezing the anti-stress ball.
Substitution method
Nails that are bitten, as in the photo, can be grown back using the replacement method. Its essence is to replace one negative habit with another, less negative, or even useful one. A classic example is when, instead of biting your nails, you eat something you like. However, using this method, it is enough to simply replace nail biting with overeating, which is also extremely unpleasant.
You can try replacing a negative habit with a positive one. Try to find an activity that gives you pleasure, but does not harm your body or others. Every time you try to bite off a nail, proceed to perform this action.
Rejection method
This is often called a method when a person, in order to give up a bad habit, tries to form a stable associative negative reaction to a particular action. The method can be called controversial, although it was used in psychiatry until the mid-20th century. It was canceled precisely because it was considered ineffective and even inhumane.
However, the Internet is full of reviews of people who were able to get rid of a bad habit using actions based on this method. To try it, put, for example, a rubber band on your hand and every time you “catch” yourself biting your nails, pull it back and lightly flick your hand. It is assumed that on a subconscious level you will establish a strong connection between the unpleasant sensation and nail biting, and therefore you will gradually get rid of the habit.
Bitter varnish
Bitter nail polish is very popular. It comes in clear form and can be applied to clean nails or over any colored nail polish as a top coat. However, often such varnishes are saturated with useful substances that strengthen and nourish nails weakened by constant damage. If such a varnish is applied to a colored coating, then the beneficial substances do not penetrate directly into the nail.
The varnish is equally suitable for very young children and adults. If the child cannot explain the harmfulness of his actions, then the bitter varnish will discourage him from putting his fingers in his mouth simply because it is unpleasant. For adults and older children, such a covering will simply remind them that they have decided to get rid of a bad habit.
This varnish is sold almost everywhere. It can be purchased at pharmacies, general beauty stores, or retail outlets offering manicure products. It is produced by many companies and you can choose one that suits your price. Thus, even those who are somewhat strapped for money will be able to forget what bitten fingernails are like.
However, this varnish also has a significant disadvantage. Not only the surface of the nail becomes bitter, but also everything that comes into contact with the coating. In this regard, after an hour or two of wearing, the tips of the fingers and hands also acquire an unpleasant taste, and from there it passes directly onto the food.
Other methods
There are other methods that will help you forget about biting nails, as in the photo. Most of them have the same principle of action as bitter varnish. It is often recommended, for example, to spread mustard on your nails or dip your fingertips in red pepper, etc. As a result, the same effect will occur when the unpleasant taste reminds you that you are fighting the habit.
It is often recommended to do nail extensions once. It is known that it is difficult to fight a habit for the first 3 weeks, but then it becomes much easier to control yourself. The extension also lasts for the same period. And you probably won’t bite your extended nails.
A child who bites his nails does not look very nice. An adult who has retained this bad habit since childhood looks even more unsightly - and even repulsive. The chances of “re-educating” an adult are slim. So, you need to take care of this in childhood. Dr. Komarovsky talks about how to stop a child from biting his nails.
About a bad habit
Approximately 30% of children regularly bite their fingernails. In adolescence, almost half of boys and girls do this. In 25% of them, the habit continues into adulthood.
According to Komarovsky, it is formed (like other bad habits) as a frequent and repeated sequence of certain identical actions. Gradually, this action ceases to be controlled by the brain and becomes a reflex. The child does not think at all about whether to start biting his nails or not, he just does it. The habits that are formed in childhood gradually shape a person’s character.
Parents quite often turn to children's doctors with the question of how to explain to their child all the harm of his habit. But this does not solve the problem any faster, since it goes beyond the purely medical and becomes partly pedagogical and partly psychological.
Different countries and social circles have their own ideas about bad habits and the norm. Evgeniy Komarovsky advises that those actions of a child that cause him physical and other harm are considered definitely harmful.
Biting your nails is harmful:
- Regularly chewing the skin around the nail plate can lead to to thinning of the skin, increasing the sensitivity of the fingertips to inflammatory processes in the deep layers of the skin. This can cause your nails to change color and appearance, look unhealthy, and break.
- Children who bite their nails frequently are at greater risk of getting sick, after all, microbes that live in the oropharynx can penetrate the bloodstream through microscopic wounds in the area of nail plates injured by teeth and cause quite serious illnesses.
Since the habit is considered actually pathological, doctors even came up with a completely medical definition for it, it is called onychophagia. The habit has its own number in the classification of diseases - F98.
Reasons for the habit
Doctors are still arguing about the reasons why children start biting their nails. Some argue that stress, anxiety, and a depressed psychological state are to blame. Others believe that the habit is formed in children whose mothers did not pay too much attention to instilling hygiene skills in their children.
Evgeniy Komarovsky says that sometimes the cause of finger sucking, and then the habit of biting nails, is an unsatisfied sucking reflex in early childhood.
Psychiatrists and psychologists agree that most often the habit of biting nails develops in children aged 4-5 years. In more rare cases, children begin to injure their own nail plates with their teeth at 2 or 3 years of age. If parents do not think about urgent measures before the age of 5, then at primary school age the bad habit will only worsen, since the student’s stress increases with each new quarter at school.
One of the most common causes of onychophagia is the personal example of parents. If one of the adult family members bites their nails, the baby simply begins to imitate, and then it is very difficult to convince him of the harmfulness of the habit. Every day he sees his dad or mom doing this, and nothing bad happens to them.
Among other probable causes of addiction, doctors and psychologists name the following factors: heredity, auto-aggression, and the child’s resistance to total control by adults.
Sometimes, due to certain metabolic pathologies, a child’s nails peel and break on their own - both on the feet and on the hands. Often children do not find a better way out than simply gnawing on a broken plate.
How to wean it off?
What the child is allowed to do once, says Komarovsky, what the parents once did not pay attention to, is done the second time by the child as a completely legal action that was not prohibited. For this reason, it is advisable to correct the child’s actions at the initial stage, before the habit has yet become a reflex.
If nail biting is already a persistent habit, parents need to make a serious pedagogical decision for themselves. If you fight, then always and everywhere, without weekends or holidays. Parents' demands must be clearly motivated. The child must know what exactly he is doing wrong and what the consequences are for him.
At the initial stage, parents need to establish at any cost the true cause of their child’s addiction. If you can’t find it on your own, you can contact your local pediatrician or child psychologist, but not with the question of how to eradicate the habit, but with the question of where the problem “grows legs.”
The worst thing that parents who decide to wean their child from a harmful addiction can come up with is to rudely pull him back and hit him in the arms.
This does not solve the problem, and the baby will soon understand that biting his nails in front of his parents is forbidden, but alone, when no one is watching, it is very possible.
There is no miracle cure in the form of a tablet or syrup for this scourge. It is also ineffective to smear your nails with something bitter (mustard, pepper). It’s even worse to start intimidating a child and frightening him with all sorts of horrors, because this bad habit may immediately be replaced by another. The child will quickly begin to, for example, bite his lips or spit.
If the reason for nail biting lies in stressful situations or anxiety of the child, you need to teach him to express his emotions in a different way - for example, in words. To do this, there are many psychological techniques based on games that will be interesting for the child to engage in. You can give your baby soothing herbal tea, give him a relaxing massage, be sure to carry out water treatments daily, and take him for more walks in the fresh air.
and minimize the time the child spends in front of the TV or computer monitor. In parallel with eliminating psychological discomfort, you need to work on strengthening the nail plates, because a strong and resistant nail is more difficult to chew.
To do this, after consulting with a pediatrician, it makes sense to start giving the child medications
Or the desire to bite nails or hangnails is a disease. Moreover, doctors classify this disease on a par with masturbation and smoking.
The habit of biting nails is the main symptom of a violation of normal human behavior. This habit is most often determined by a person’s strong emotional experiences, and therefore is temporary. Nail biting is quite common, especially in children of preschool and primary school age. So, according to statistics, 34% of children bite their nails. Although this disease has various causes, which in some cases justify such actions, nail biting is still a bad habit that indicates a violation of a person’s behavior pattern.
Nail biting is dangerous and can cause serious health problems. A large number of bacteria and microbes accumulate under the nails, which enter the oral cavity and can cause dangerous infectious diseases, as well as helminthic infestations.
Why does a person bite his nails?
The habit of biting nails is, first of all, a symptom of increased nervousness of a person, a manifestation of his anxiety. This is how the body reacts to stressful situations. This is a kind of psychological defense.
There are several reasons for the habit of nail biting.
- Reaction to conflicts. This reason is more typical for children whose parents are very strict with them or show excessive care. In such situations, the child’s freedom is greatly limited.
- Masochism. Some scientists have identified the habit of biting nails as the initial stage of masochism. Children liked to hurt themselves. However, they did not experience any discomfort.
- Diffidence. In most cases, when a person has the habit of biting his nails, he has an internal conflict, which is caused by difficulties in communicating with people.
- Heredity. There is a medical theory that the habit of biting nails is also genetically transmitted.
- Reaction to stressful situations. They bite their nails in order to think better, to relax when they are nervous.
- Self-directed aggression. A person who bites his nails chews himself and is busy with self-flagellation and self-accusation.
- Brittle nails can sometimes also cause this negative habit.
Often, in the process of biting nails, both the nail holes and the skin on the fingertips are damaged. A person is capable of gnawing his fingers until blood appears. The habit of biting nails most often appears in children aged 4-5 years, less often in teenagers, and even less often in adults.
How to get rid of the habit of biting your nails
In order to simply prohibit a person from biting his nails, it is not enough: it is necessary that he himself wants it. In addition, prohibitions alone will not solve the problem, because in this case the fight will only be with the symptoms, and not with the causes.
Here are some ways to get rid of the habit of biting your nails.
- If the cause of this habit is anxiety, then it is necessary to conduct behavioral therapy, which involves facing various frightening situations, and becoming familiar with various ways to control emotions. It may be worthwhile to undergo a course of drug treatment using sedatives.
- If a person bites his nails because they are brittle, then it is worth strengthening the nail plates; you can use salt baths, as well as preparations containing calcium and other trace elements.
- A great way to combat nail biting is by adding nail extensions, acrylic or gel.
- You can use products that have an unpleasant taste to treat your nails.
- It is worth turning to your loved ones for help, let them reprimand you if they notice a bad tendency to bite your nails.
- If you have the urge to bite your nails, you can do something by switching your attention.
The habit of biting your nails is not a death sentence. You can get rid of it; for this you need to do some work on yourself, but you may need the help of specialists.
There are many theories that explain one way or another the habit of biting nails. But it is still not completely known what makes people do this. What does a person “gnaw”? ?
Several theories explaining the causes of onychophagia
1. Manifestation of childhood neurosis
Many doctors think so, explaining that the child,
Which in this way gets rid of discomfort and psychological stress. This habit provides an outlet for pent-up aggression while delivering pleasure. Fear of “adult” life also plays a significant role (the child, holding him, still feels small and has the right to be weak).
2. Household reasons
Another source is boredom and the inability to keep oneself busy. And often this also arises as a result of imitation by adults (if parents have the habit of biting their nails, then the child will do the same). By the way, it can also appear if the baby’s nails are poorly cared for. Dried hangnails force the child to get rid of them on his own.
3. Repressed desires
Followers of Freud consider this habit to be analogous to masturbation. But, unlike the latter, this is a less provocative method of satisfaction, which, obviously, affects its prevalence.
So why does the need to bite your nails arise?
Onychophagia (the need to bite nails) most often occurs in people who are unable to express their negative emotions. This type of behavior is referred to as auto-aggression, that is, aggression that is directed at oneself. This is a peculiar way of self-deprecation, self-accusation, associated with a subconscious symbolic attitude towards nails as the claws of an animal, that is, as a means of protection and manifestation of strength. Thus, by biting his nails, a person seems to be trying to hide his aggression directed at others.
These features are typical, as a rule, for people who are insecure, timid, or vice versa, energetic, confident, but understand that the situation will not allow them to express the full strength of the feelings they experience, and suppress emotions consciously.
The saddest thing about the habit of biting your nails - the fact that their unkempt, depressing appearance makes a person even more disgusted with himself and, as a result, increases the desire to gnaw them. This is such a vicious circle. How to break out of it?
What to do if you have onychophagia?
In order to help yourself cope with this habit, you need to want to get rid of it. Don't scold yourself for having your fingers in your mouth again and again. You need to create conditions that will force you to give up this.
Men get rid of this dubious pleasure more easily. It is enough for them to apply a special varnish on their nails, which has an unpleasant taste that discourages obsessive desire. In addition, this varnish contains a vitamin complex that helps nails take on their proper appearance. Doctors advise applying it every two days, after washing off the remnants of the old one.
And women should give themselves a beautiful manicure with false nails. Any representative of the fair sex will be pleased to look at her fingers, and this will significantly help her avoid a bad habit. In addition, acrylic is very inconvenient to chew on.
Those who experience increased irritability, insomnia, appetite disturbances, and impulsiveness should seek support from specialists. After all, a person who bites his nails is “biting” himself, which means that it is necessary to find out the cause of this condition and prescribe treatment.