Nail biting and nail picking is a common habit believed to affect over 20% of the general population that frequently starts at a young age. While many kids quit by the age of ten, others keep biting nails on and off throughout their life well into adulthood for a variety of reasons.
What Does Biting Your Nails Mean?
Good question. Difficult answer. The most common reasons (triggers) you’ll see discussed are stress, anxiety, frustration, anger, boredom and just something to do.
For most people it’s a habit of course but why biting our nails specifically? Why not smacking ourselves in the face or tapping our foot (actually I do that too and still do it). What is it about ripping parts of our nails off that somehow makes sense to us? What does that mean?
It’s a difficult question to answer because it really is an individual habit whose meaning changes for each person. You have to figure out for yourself what it means to you.
By the time I quit, I realized that for me the days of biting and picking nails due to stress or anxiety were no longer applicable and that in fact, I just did it because I felt like it.
What Is Nail Biting A Sign Of?
While some have tried to attach nail biting to high intelligence, mental health or OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) it really does depend on the person. Certainly people could fit each or some of these classifications but then again, they may not.
The OCD classification was controversial when introduced because biting and picking your nails for many of us isn’t/wasn’t compulsive. It got lumped in with hair pulling, cheek biting and things of that nature. I never felt it was compulsive. I just did it and by the end before I quit, it was something to do and pass the time.
Research has shown that while nail biting isn’t a mental health issue, people that do have mental health issues tend to be nail biters.
Again though, nail biting may not be a sign of anything. Many people quit biting their nails and then start again and perhaps quit again. Some people quit once and never go back. Research often contradicts itself too, suggesting that more males bite their nails than females but other research says it’s the opposite.
Desire To Bite Nails
The thing that shocked me the most is that after over forty years of biting my nails, I quit biting and picking them virtually overnight at age 50. The habit of biting my nails was something I was able to quit relatively easily even taking into that fact that I have been doing it since I was a kid. If quitting was easy full stop, I’d have done it decades ago.
But the actual quitting part was very quick. I almost quit cold turkey in fact once I put my mind to it. After really deciding I was going to quit for good, I picked my nails a few times here and there but then stopped completely after a few days. I just caught myself and stopped doing it whereas before I’d have just gone to town on my nails and bit and picked them like crazy till I was done.
Catalyst To Quit
A big catalyst for me to quit was starting up this website End Nail Biting. I began thinking, writing and researching more about the habit and finally realized a few things about my behavior. I was:
- More of a nail picker than nail biter but I did both.
- Really unmotivated in the past to quit. I never put much effort forth which is why I never stopped doing it.
- Just biting and picking nails at this point because I felt like it, nothing more. There were no real triggers involved.
My catalyst to quit? I didn’t have one. I just kept biting and picking nails without much thought as to seriously quitting.
What’s your story? Document your nail biting behavior and really think about when and where you bite them and why you’d like to quit.
No Barrier To Entry
The problem with nail biting is unlike other habits there is no barrier to entry. You don’t have to buy anything like you do if you’re a heavy drinker or smoke. It doesn’t cost anything in terms of an up front fee and you just start doing it at anytime you like.
So there is no barrier to entry to prevent you from starting the nail biting habit and for many of us there is no catalyst to quit the habit either.
While there are plenty of side effects of nail biting for your fingers, teeth, stomach and jaw among other body parts, many of these side effects may not be noticed right away or for many years. By the time they happen we might just assume it’s old age or something else. But the side effects are real and can be very costly and painful over time.
My Suggestion To Help You Quit
While I’ve written about many ways and reasons to quit nail biting on this website, I’d suggest checking out the longest and most detailed article on the site Personal Nail Biting Case Study which describes my lifetime of nail biting and how I finally stopped along with background information on the habit as a whole.
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