Why I Bite My Nails

I’ve been biting my nails as long as I can remember and I’m 50 as I’m typing this. It’s a gross habit but the most difficult part of stopping is that many times I don’t even know when I’m doing it. It’s subconscious to the point where I barely even consider it anymore.

These days with covid, I’m more careful about putting my fingers in my mouth and truth be told I’m more of a nail picker than nail biter. Why do I do it though? I actually had to think about it in detail to be honest as I don’t actually know why I spend so much time and effort doing it. For me, it boils down to a few key reasons.

Boredom

If I’m bored I tend to pick at and bite my nails. And I don’t even have to be sitting around doing nothing to be bored, that’s the weird part. I can be watching a movie or tv and find myself picking my nails. I can be front of my laptop as I am when working on this website and as soon as I stop typing and think about what to do next, I start picking away.

Other than when I’m sleeping or otherwise unconscious, I find that the easiest way for me to not think about biting my nails is when I’m actively engaged in something and keeping busy.

Distraction

When I get distracted – as mentioned above when I stop to think about what to type next on this website for example – I tend to immediately fall into the trap of biting my nails. If I have my hands full with something – my cellphone for example – I’m distracted enough to not even consider biting my nails. Plus it’s hard to bite your nails when you have your hands full.

Stress

When I get stressed or anxious about something, my go to move is starting with the nails. I think it’s a way to combat stress and let it out somehow. I guess it’s also a distraction from the thing that is causing me stress to begin with.

So for me nail biting occurs for a combination of reasons but if I had to pick the main one, it’s just boredom and picking my nails is something to keep me busy, even if I happen to be doing something else at the time.

Where Do I Bite My Nails

I had to think about this for a bit. I don’t bite my nails when I have my cellphone or anything else in my hands. So when my hands are busy holding something I tend not to do it.

I tend to do it when sitting down but I have found myself doing it while walking. The more I think about it, I also tend to bite my nails when no one is around probably because my wife and younger daughter get on my case and ask me not to. Having said that, since they do get on my case and ask me to stop, clearly I’m doing it around them also. Mind you they must have good hearing because sometimes I’m biting my nails and they’re not even next to me and I’m getting told off.

Update

I quit nail biting, at the age of 50. Here’s how I did it.