Nail Biting And Anxiety (Deal With Your Triggers)

Nail biting and anxiety have long been mentioned in the same sentence. Anxiety is widely believed to be a trigger that causes many of us nail biters to start biting away when we get anxious or stressed out.

Nail biting is a repetitive behavior that many people use to deal with various triggers such as anxiety or stress. While nail biting has been classified by some as an obsessive compulsive disorder many nail biters and pickers will also engage in the habit when bored, too.

Understimulation Or Overstimulation?

Nail biters often bite or pick nails when bored (understimulation) or when we are stressed and anxious (overstimulation). So when we’re bored, nail biting gives us something to do with our hands but when we’re anxious, it helps to calm us down.

So it’s possible that nail biters can bite their nails for multiple reasons and for reasons at the opposite end of the stimulation spectrum depending on the circumstances.

If nail biting is very situational which it is for many of us, it’s debatable if it can actually be an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) because many of us don’t ever find it to be compulsive. We just do it when we feel like it and when it suits us. We may just think it’s helping us relieve the anxiety or deal with whichever trigger we’re facing.

Why Nail Biting Relieves Anxiety

If you continually experience anxiety, nail biting can be one way to deal with this sort of stress. Anxiety might be something you deal with frequently so nail biting serves a purpose to help you cope.

Just like we scratch a mosquito bite when we know it just makes it worse, biting our nails doesn’t actually accomplish anything except make our nails look bad. Plus there are plenty of side effects that can cause long term health problems to your jaw, teeth, fingers and even to your stomach.

For long term nail biters, we just know there is a feeling of satisfaction when we rip a nail the right way and it tears off completely. You can’t describe it to a non-nail biter but if you bite your nails, you know what I mean.

Some other people may bite their skin and fingernails or pull or twirl their hair. Others may fidget or do some other repetitive activity. So some anxiety-driven activities are destructive like the ones that involve biting, picking or pulling your hair, nails, and skin and yet others like fidgeting or foot and leg tapping can just be annoying, usually to other people.

Due to the repetitive nature of these activities, they are often referred to as body-focused repetitive behavior.

But are you sure you are biting your nails because of anxiety or stress or is it something else? And does nail biting even help?

Is Nail Biting And Anxiety Even Related?

Nail biting can help us deal with anxiety and perhaps reduce the tension and stress that we feel. But if nail biting turns into a full blown habit that we do every time we feel anxious – or bored, angry, hungry, etc – then all we’ve done is developed a new habit to quit on top of trying to deal with our anxiety.

It’s also possible that for many nail biters, nail biting and picking is just the excuse used to deal with anxiety. Or boredom. Or hunger. And so on. For me, it took me years to realize that many times – if not most of the time – I bit and picked my nails, I was just doing it for something to do. It kept my hands busy, that’s all.

I didn’t actually need to be anxious or bored or anything else. Once I started actually paying close attention to my nail biting habits, I recognized that while there were times I was stressed or anxious and bit my nails, my reason for doing so was generally something else. I just felt like biting and picking my nails.

If you think anxiety is a problem for you, speak with your doctor. It might be something that a professional can help with.

Summary

While anxiety can certainly be a trigger for nail biting, so can many other factors including stress, boredom, hunger, anger, and frustration. People bite and pick their nails for other reasons often just to keep their hands busy and possibly when they aren’t actually feeling any of these triggers.

If you feel that anxiety is a problem and you can’t deal with it, a visit to your doctor should be in order. You can also discuss your nail biting habit to try and get that sorted out, too.

To learn more about nail biting triggers, check out my article called Why Do I Bite My Nails? (Triggers) to understand what reasons you may have for continuing this habit.