RSS Feeds: Nail Biting: Causes, Consequences, Cure-How to Stop Biting Your Nails
Nail biting (onychophagia) is a nervous habit I know all too well. I’ve been biting my nails since I was a child, and as much as I’d like to say that I’ve learned to stop biting my nails now that I’m an adult, I’m embarrassed to admit that my wish to quit biting my nails is still a problem for me.
I’ve been researching the causes and consequences of nail biting, as well as searching for a cure for nail biting. Everything I’ve read so far says that nail biting occurs in times of stress, anxiety, excitement, boredom or inactivity and can be a learned behavior from family members. If you bite your nails too, and you’re habit is anything like mine, you also bite your nails without realizing you’re doing it.
It seems that no matter what it is that I’m doing, such as reading, watching television, talking on the phone, researching and writing articles for my websites, I bite my nails without thinking about it or realizing I’m doing it, and then I notice my fingernails are nearly bitten down to the quick.
Nail Biting Cure
My parents tried everything they could think to try and get me to stop biting my nails, including painting fingernail polish on my nails, which I’d just bite off anyway. Soap, shampoo, jalapeno sauces, iodine, spankings and grounding me didn’t work either. In my opinion, the quickest way to turn your child into an extreme nail biter is to start smacking or spanking them for biting their nails, which only makes a bad habit worse. Just don’t do it.
I’ve tried to stop biting my nails on my own many times over the years, even managing to grow my natural nails for several months and enjoy caring for my nails myself by filing and painting them so they look nice all the time. Until, suddenly and without warning, I’ll be reading or watching t.v. and I’ll catch myself chewing on my fingernails, but it’s too late. They’re gone, and I have to start all over again.
According to the statistics and studies done on nail biting, 28-33% of children ages 7-10 years old, 44% of adolescents, 19-29% of young adults and 5% of older adults (like me) are nail biters. One study showed 45-60% of children between the ages of 8 to 11 have a habit of biting their nails, which tends to peak between the ages of 10 and 18.
Opinions on what causes nail biting vary widely, with some believing it is due to high levels of stress and anxiety, while others say the habit appears during quiet, solitary, inactive moments such as when relaxing watching television. My experience tells me it’s the latter of the two.
How To Stop Biting Your Nails
Fingernail biting is a habit that is not easy to quit or control. I’ve read statistics and research on how to stop nail biting, including the findings that say nail biting doesn’t have any long lasting negative effects, but chewing nails occasionally or regularly means you and I have ugly, unsightly fingernails and that’s just not okay with me.
I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of money paying for manicures and fake nails over the years, but I just want to quit biting my nails once and for all. I’ve researched “nail biting”, “nail biting cure” and “nail biting treatment”, because this adult nail biting habit of mine has got to stop. If you’re ready to stop nail biting like I am, I’ve recently found a couple of options that just might be the perfect solution for you too.
I’ve read some stories from other nail biters who’ve said nail biting hypnosis helped them stop biting their nails, but I’m not ready to go that route quite yet. That’s not to say that hypnosis treatments for nail biting doesn’t work, because maybe it does, but I’m more inclined to try MAVALA Stop For Nail Biting or the control it nail biting cream to help me stop chewing on my nails.
Some have suggested trying the “rubber band” method, where you wear a rubber band around your wrist, and every time you start biting your nails you’re supposed to snap the rubber band hard enough on yourself to make you stop. Sorry, but that just sounds silly to me. The other thing I’ve done in my efforts to quit biting my nails is that I’ve ordered the book, Stop Your Nailbiting!: Permanently
Do you bite your nails or did you used to bite your nails but have since quit? Does one or more of your children bite their fingernails and you’re trying to get them to stop? If you used to be a nail biter, what helped you to stop?
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Oh yeah Lin, I have had this habit and I guess I still do to quite some extent. In fact, I have got over my habit of biting my hand nails. But what I cant get over is the habit of chipping off my toe nails
Just like you said.. While watching T.V., reading something or just talking over the phone.. My hands seem to automatically reach for the toes and begin scraping at them. Result: I have such horrible looking feet. I have tried wearing socks and all. But sometimes the urge is so strong that I end up removing the socks and then again its not a very feasible option during summers.
Hi Janet,
I’ve never gotten into a habit of chipping toe nails, but from what I’ve read online, that’s a common habit that goes right along with biting fingernails. It will be nice though to stop paying for these fake nails all the time. The things I could do with all the money I’ve spent on acrylic nails would probably pay off my car payment and then some.
Lin, talking about the nail biting syndrome, my brother, Rayno used to bite his nail while he was eight-year-old. Luckily, my mother found his bad habit and told him not to do it, especially in the public. After about a year of advice, he finally stopped the nail biting and move on his life…
I personally think that nail biting might be caused by the lack of confidence or some traumas/incidents that happened on someone’s life! In able to overcome the matter, they should find out the roof of the problem first…
Hi Wilson,
From what I’ve read, there are a large variety of reasons why people bite their nails. For me personally, it was a habit I developed watching my older brother do it as a child and I picked it up too. No big traumatic occurrence in my life caused me to start biting my nails. I haven’t been able to bite my nails for quite a long time now because I always have fake nails on, but if I were to take the nails off, I have no idea if I’d go right back to chewing my nails again. I plan on taking my fake nails off soon, once I have that nail cream and after I’ve read the book, and hopefully I won’t bite my nails anymore. Ever.
Lin, thank goodness you’re recover from this nail biting stuff, Lin. Honestly, I think I’m also have an odd habit, where I love to scratch my nose frequently. I knew it wasn’t a good manner, but I just can’t help to stop it here.
Do you have any good suggestion to me, Lin?
Hi Wilson,
So many people develop habits like biting their nails, biting their toe nails (eeewwww), biting on their fingers and chewing at the skin (another eeeewwww), and scratching stuff.
I would guess that scratching your nose a lot might mean you have allergies to something in the air. Seasonal allergies of mountain cedar, pollen and other allergens cause me and many other people to rub or scratch at our nose because it itches. Other than that, I don’t know.
Thank you for this excellent post about a serious problem too often mimimized. These behaviors are often early signs of developing problems with self mutilation even though denial is rampant about that. Anyone inflicting pain and causing injury to themselves is self-mutilating and needs to deal with the underlying problem as well as the obvious habit. On this issue, I speak from experience as well as from academic knowledge.
Hi Nancy! Thanks for stopping by. Fortunately, self mutilation isn’t anything I’ve ever even thought of or considered for myself, although I realize self injury is a serious problem for some. I recognize that my habit of biting my nails was learned at a very young age, and I know why I started biting my nails and why it’s been nearly impossible for me to stop. Thank goodness for fake nails.
Hello Lin and Nancy- it is to your comments that i would like to reply to. As it is this is my first time researching this problem on the computer. I, embarrassingly enough, have the bad habit to which you refer as “another ewwe”, and in all honesty you’d be right, however i would like to tell you a little about me possibly to make you a little more open, and to give you a little more understanding of someone with my problem, which in many respects is similar to yours.
I am not without flaws, or times of stress, but there is no denying that comparatively speaking, i am a fairly normal, person. Someone, i imagine, that most would not suspect to have a habit that leaves my fingers bloody. I am unusually blessed with a supporting family, and wonderful friends who make my life fairly stress-free. As of this year i am a freshman in college, however i do not drink, smoke, or do drugs, and i prefer taking my dog to the local park, looking at the view and talking with my sister, to partying. However i have had this habit ever since i was a little girl. I honestly cannot remember when it started, but often times it scares me, because it is something so contradictory to myself. I do it, though when i am bored watching tv or something, but when i catch myself doing it i can stop- i feel like stress does make it worse, but i do not have any traumatic life stories. If anything i worry about other people’s problems too much, because i don’t like seeing other people upset. Anywho, because i have this problem i am extremely aware of when other people do it, and i can tell you from simple observation that many people have this habit, in-fact my mom, who is a peach, does it but i don’t think she started until after i had it because i don’t remember ever seeing her do it until the last few years. I guess i just didn’t want both of you to think that most people with this problem are deranged psycho’s who grow up to cut themselves or become drug dealers- you may know this already but i just wanted to further the point, while asking for information, or anything that could help me understand this better, or help me stop- it is a rather embarrassing, dark habit and as i said before i don’t really want to make my family worry. sorry this is a rather long message. actually talking about this is kind of hard for me
by the way thank you for finding the info you already have, and being brave enough to talk about your own habits- it is very helpful. Best of luck
Hi Steph,
I do NOT think that people who bite their nails, chew their skin etc are or end up becoming psycho’s in any form or fashion. None whatsoever.
I personally believe the reason why kids and adults bite their nails or chew on their skin around their fingers etc is ’cause it’s a learned behavior over a period of time. I also crack my knuckles on my both hands and my toes. The same older brother who taught me how to bite my nails is the same brother who taught me how to crack my knuckles too. Two of my daughters bite their nails and one daughter also bites the skin around her fingertips, and I know they learned it from me years ago.
Stress is something a lot of people don’t even realize they have. You don’t have to experience some horrific childhood trauma of some kind to deal with stress related behaviors. Just being a college student means you have stress. Worrying about what others are thinking or saying about the nail biting habit brings on more stress. By the time a person adds up all the various ways of having stress through a day, a person may be so incredibly stressed out with various kinds of concerns or worries that they don’t even realize how stressed out they really are.
Steph, I remember years and years ago someone telling me the way to quit biting my nails was to “reduce your stress”. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard as I did when I heard that. Easier said than done is the understatement of the century.
Learned behaviors such as nail biting or cracking knuckles etc don’t necessarily get learned from members of our immediate family. Kids can learn these bad habits from observing others in the world – perhaps a neighbor, a schoolmate, distant relatives only seen on occasion, neighborhood pals, a school teacher, etc. Where the habit was initially learned may not be knowable, but I don’t really think it matters that much knowing who taught me to bite my nails etc. Knowing doesn’t help me learn to stop doing it.
Almost three months ago, I took my fake nails off and have been growing my natural nails again and they look great. I keep my nails trimmed and shaped short, since I do a lot of typing on the keyboard (obviously LOL), so having long gorgeous nails just isn’t realistic for me.
The book I mentioned above is great, and I also got myself some “hard as nails” nail polish from the store and usually remember to keep putting that on. I’m really hoping that I’ve gotten over biting my nails, but if by chance I one day discover that I’ve bitten my nails off again, I will absolutely rush to the store and get some of the Mavala – I’ve read some great reviews on it and I do believe many people have been helped to quit biting their nails with it.
Nail biters are not psycho’s by any means. Hang in there, and keep on trying to stop. I would also highly recommend having your doctor do a series of blood tests on you to see if POSSIBLY your vitamin/minerals/blood sugar etc levels may be off somehow. I mention that because a few years ago, I had a terrible terrible habit of chewing on ice. Not big pieces of ice, but tiny pebble ice used at some convenience stores. I actually became addicted to chewing on ice! Lots of ice too! My doctor ran some tests and discovered I was severely anemic and my body was starving for the iron found in the ice. The crazy thing about that was I have always been good about eating lots of healthy foods and getting my vitamins and minerals from eating healthy, and I have been taking vitamins and supplements including IRON for many years now, but I still became anemic. Keep on trying to stop Steph, and at least allow your doctor to rule out any vitamin/mineral deficiencies in your system.
Every time you catch yourself putting your hands in your mouth… remind yourself of all the things you have touched and how many germs they are covered in… you are introducing a huge host of germs directly into your mouth… not appealing!
I too have bitten my nails starting when i was very young, no one in my family bites their nails except me not my mother father brother
not even my children I am a grandmother and my grand children don’t bite their nails. I too have tried many things as a child my parents tried everything to get me to quit. As an adult I have tried the fake nails and found myself chewing them off as well. I would love to quit the habit. It almost sounds like we are addicted. Yes I have stress who does not.
Too bad a doctor could not get in on this conversation we are having to give some suggestions.
Kay,
Have you been to the doctor to run some blood tests to see if you might have a vitamin deficiency of some kind? Several years ago I was diagnosed with Severe Anemia which the doctor said contributed to the nail biting problem because of having a severe iron deficiency. ??
I’m so happy that this conversation continues because I think it is such an important one. The iron deficiency possiblity is fascinating. I always wondered if the possibility of some kind of deficiency wasn’t part of the problem. Look forward to learning more about that aspect of nailbiting/flesh chewing.
I’d like to say again that nailbiting that includes blood and pain is considered by many as a form of self-mutilation…but that does not mean one must be “psycho” if one does it. However, as a former nail-biter and one who suffers from mental illness I find the suggestion offensive that either means I am “psycho.”
I also think it is as difficult to defend something so painful and potentially dangerous as nailbiting often is as nothing more than a bad habit…to say so is about like saying that smoking is nothing more than a bad habit.
CP,
My iron deficiency was so severe and lead to all sorts of health problems for me, which required surgery to correct. There are so many things we take for granted with our health, and since we’re not doctors or medical experts, it’s so important for us to see our doctor and ask that diagnostic tests be run to find out IF there is a medical reason for nail biting or any other health problem. Our bodies are very complex and simply guessing or “self diagnosing” as to the causes for nail biting, without seeking the advice of professionals in the field of medicine, is treading dangerous ground.
hmmm… my comment spammy? well here’s another try then…I absolutely agree with you, Lin. I think my point is similar in that denial can be a dangerous thing in regard to any subject. Minimizing nailbiting concerns me in particular when it comes to children.
For those interested in how big a discussion nailbiting really is here from a few minutes searching:
(And probably more than most of us want to know!)
http://community.livejournal.com/biters_anon
just one of 50,000 Google search entries for nailbiters annonymous
http://www.stopbitingnails.com/nailinfo.htm
one of 12,900 Google search results on nailbiting/anemia-
http://personalitymooddisorders.suite101.com/article.cfm/nail_biting_the_unsung_self_injurous_behavior
one of 36,600 Google search results for nail biter/self mutilation-
Because I believe nailbiting is a serious issue, I just Twittered this conversation and am about to put it on my Facebook.
Thank you for staying with it…
I’m a professional married man who never outgrew biting my fingernails and toenails.
When I got into the business world, I felt immature and a bit ashamed because I could never control the urge to bite my fingernails to the nubs, even in public. I tried to conceal my hands but that made me more self-conscious and uncomfortable. I finally resolved to accept myself as I am and live with the habit, however socially disfavord it may be. That helped lift a heavy burden of guilt and shame and made me happier with myself.
I still bite my nails all the time but no longer worry about it. The habit is incidental in my life and at worst a minor nuisance. I know the habit is crude and unsanitary, but in my case I found that it is healthier to be nail-biter than worry about it. On a whole, I am a healthy, out-going, and popular guy.
Hi Paul,
Your comment helps prove the fact that men also bite their nails, even into adulthood. I personally cannot imagine giving up on trying to find a way to quit being a nail biter, trying various “cure” techniques etc, but everyone must decide for themselves. The uncomfortable embarrassment of trying to hide your hands from others so they won’t see you are a nail biter is something I can relate to. Having fake nails keeps me from biting my nails and makes my nails look professional and well kept for the business world. I wonder, is there such a thing as fake nails for men? Do nail salons put fake nails on guys, in a way that would make them look natural? I’ll have to ask about that the next time I go to the nail place.
I have done everything more than once to let my nails grow. I am 42 yo. None of the nail products work for me, although the best one I have used is Orly No Bite and No Bite Cream (any polish types do not work at all) I have used hynosis CDs specifically for nail biting. I have used the rubber band technique. I have tried NLP techniques. I have had people nag me to get my fingers out of my mouth. I have tried Paxil. I have had fake nails for a year and was worried I would chip or break a tooth for biting and picking at these as well. I basically have just given up on this issue a 100 times. Resolved to fix other “more important issues” in my life.
Willpower absolutely does not work. There is some urge that causes me to bite. Many times is from the quiet times, reading, driving, watching tv. I do it at work as a means of procrastination when I am stuck on how to move forward on my work project.
Most recently for other reasons I have done neurofeedback. There is lots of information about the usefulness of neurofeedback for many many issues. When I first started after maybe 5 sessions, I realized I just didn’t think about my nails anymore. It was a non issue. It was a crazy freeing feeling when I realized it. I just felt good and had a lot of motivation and got out of bed easier in the morning.
Unfortunately, after changing my protocol for further results I never got back to that place. I will be trying this again in a year or so and do believe for me this is the answer.
Neurofeedback is your brain viewing/hearing itself and correcting/balancing your brainwaves. There are lots of articles about it. ["name" changed and link removed]