Nail biting

Just because Britney Spears can be caught biting her nails doesn't mean its ok to be a nail biter. Nail biting is a habit, just like sucking your thumb, twirling your hair, or chewing on pen tops. The annoying part about nail biting is that most people do it subconsciously. This will make the habit even harder to break because it often takes another person to remind you not to bite your nails.

Normally biting your nails will not hurt them, it just causes them to become shorter and brittle. You may find it hard to grow out your nails, as the temptation to bite them is overwhelming. Even if you do bite your nails all the time, they will continue to grow. If you damage the nail bed (the area near the cuticles) then you may have problems growing new nails.

If you have warts on the hands or an infection, try to avoid biting your nails. This can cause the infection to worsen and it can spread underneath the nail bed. When this occurs, you may actually develop an infection under the nail and the nail will eventually need to come off. Having a wart on your hand is not better because you can easily pass the bacteria and virus to your mouth when you bite. This can case infections like cold sores, canker sores, and other infections of the mouth and lips. You can actually develop a head cold from biting on an infected nail as you are sucking up the infection and this worsens the immune system, causing you to be vulnerable to head colds.

If you catch nail biting early enough, you can break the habit easily. If you allow it to go on for several years, it can be very difficult to break. For many people, nail biting becomes a nervous twitch and it's just something you do when you are bored or upset. It also goes along with other emotions and many people will do it when they are thinking about something. If your nail biting is severe, you may need to seek medical advice. You could have anxiety issues or it may be a warning sign of compulsive behavior.

What makes nail biting annoying to a lot of people is the reaction others have to it. If you are biting your nails in a job interview, you may not get the job. This behavior actually disgusts a lot of people and you may find that your nail biting habit makes it difficult to make friends. Although this is not always the case, nail biting can be a life-altering behavior.

In order to stop nail biting, you need to have an action plan and you need to be dedicated to breaking the habit. Just like losing weight, motivation and effort are the only ways in which you will break this habit.

If you are an occasional nail biter, do some smaller steps like trimming your nails down. This way you don't have much to bite off. The nails people usually bite are those that have broken or become brittle. They don't match the rest of your shaped nails, so subconsciously you will bite on them.

If you have the urge to bite your nails, bite something else. A piece of taffy might even work in this instance. Get some gloves and cover your hands so you can't see the temptation. If this doesn't work, you may need to resort to other methods like painting specially-made nail paint on your nails. This paint has a bitter taste and normally causes people to avoid biting their nails; it works similar to the paint you use to get children to stop sucking their fingers.