How Can I Stop Biting My Nails?

3 Practical Strategies to Consider

This is one of the most common questions that doctors hear asked on a regular basis: how can I stop biting my nails? People of all ages struggle with nail biting either as a source of stress and anxiety relief or sometimes as a mindless habit that occurs for unknown reasons. If you find yourself suffering with the same problem, the following three practical strategies may help you stop once and for all.

#1: Relieve all sources of stress and anxiety.

For most nail biters, the real issue that leads to the behavior is stress and anxiety. Just as some children suck their thumbs for comfort, many children and adults will bite at their nails when they are under a lot of stress, experiencing emotional turmoil, or suffering from anxiety. Those who have more serious anxiety disorders need to seek treatment for the anxiety in order to get the nail biting under control in many cases.

If you suffer from occasional anxiety or attribute your nail biting to an overload of stressful situations, then you can often combat the nail biting by fixing the problems leading the anxiety and stress. For instance, if your job has you stressed out try to delegate tasks or create more relaxation at home so you are better able to cope with the stress on the job.

If you have someone in your life that continually brings stress to your life or makes you anxious, then try to talk to them about it or stay away from them as much as possible. Nail biting is just a minor outward consequence of excessive stress and anxiety, but there are more serious consequences happening inside your body.

#2: Care for your nails so they are well trimmed and shaped.

It is more difficult to bite your nails if they are trimmed down to a short but comfortable height where you cannot get your teeth around the end of the nail easily. If you take the time to shape and polish them or even have them professionally done you won’t want to bite them and ruin the attractive appearance that you have given yourself. This may serve as a mental reminder not to bite.

Plus, getting chips of nail polish on your tongue is never fun! If you are a male, then trimming them down nicely and using a clear nail polish that doesn’t taste very good can serve the same purpose.

#3: Cover the nails with something fun that will remind you not to bite your nails and taste disgusting if you do it mindlessly.

There are some special polishes on the market designed to give a disgusting taste if you do put your fingers in your mouth, but for many people the taste is not strong enough and wears off too quickly to really serve as a deterrent.

You may now be wondering: how can I Stop biting my nails if those products don’t work? Think of more creative ideas, such as putting colorful stickers around the ends of your fingers or covering the nails up with band-aids.

If your biggest question right now is “how can I stop biting my nails?” you may need to spend some time in serious thought. Question what is leading you to this behavior and try to think of creative remedies unique to your own personality and quirks.