How To Stop Nail-Biting ?

by Arpita Wadhawan
Nail Biting

Nail-biting is a bad habit that plagues more than half of teenagers and adults. Whereas scientists are unsure if the habit is passed down genetically, they do agree upon the fact that the children with parents who bite their nails are more likely to do it than other children. It has also been associated with mental stress, anxiety and depression and is usually looked at as a coping mechanism in response to them. So, how to stop onychophagia?

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  1. Cut them regularly

One way to subconsciously stop nail biting is to cut your nails short, regularly. This will leave you with no nails to bite, even when you try to. It will lead to you being dissatisfied and may rid you of this bad habit.

  1. Bad taste

You could try coating them with bitter-tasting polish. They are available in the market, and coating them with these polishes can make you avoid biting them.

  1. Manicures

Spend more time and money getting manicures. These will psychologically make you think twice about biting your nails after spending so much time and money on it.

  1. Go for gloves

Although this is not a long-term solution, you could start off by wearing gloves. This way you cannot reach your nails, let alone biting them off. Slowly, not biting your nails becomes a habit.

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  1. Do something else

Find other ways to satisfy the reasons you chew your nails for in the first place. Try chewing gum or even clicking the tip of a pen. Whatever works for you.

  1. Set small goals

Set daily targets of nails you will not bite. You can start with not biting the index finger on Monday, not biting the index finger and thumb on Tuesday, and so on. Over 10-14 days, you may see a stark change in your nail-biting behaviors.

  1. Apply Band-Aid

Another solution is which is not for the long-term, yet effective. Keeping the nails bandaged for most of the day helps you not to chew it all up. And when you finally remove the band-aids, it leaves an extremely bitter taste which simply puts you off from trying to put them in your mouth.

Apart from completely ruining the looks of your nails, nail-biting can lead to serious infections of the body. Avoiding them are reasons enough to immediately get down to business to kick this bad habit out.

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