If you need to stop biting nails there are a few things you can do to make your hands look healthy and attractive again. Despite being one of the most common habits ever, nail biting often occurs as a result of stress or just plain boredom!

There are probably millions of people across the world trying to stop biting nails at any given time. If you think that around 25% of young adults and 30% of children aged between seven and ten are habitual nail biters, I am sure you realise you are certainly not alone.

It has been suggested that males are more likely to be nail biters as well as those of a higher intelligence. Such a suggestion is probably based in the female tendency to care more about their appearance and if people are of a higher intelligence, that perhaps their stress and responsibility levels may be higher that in turn may lead to more nail biting.

I realise that trying to stop biting nails sounds easy, Im sure you know it is not! It takes a lot of determination and effort, so any tips you can get are worth considering as what works for one may not work for another. So what can you do? Help stop biting nails by keeping your hands busy, if possible by doing a job where your hands are either dirty or one that requires you using cleaning materials. Such activities would hopefully keep your hands out of your mouth!

When you feel vulnerable or stressed try wearing gloves or bandages, or use nail and hand creams with a bitter unpleasant taste. Get your family and friends to give you a nudge if they spot you nibbling. You could even try wearing an elastic band around your wrist and pinging it when you notice yourself chewing, this can have the affect of associating pain with nail biting and help you stop. Promise yourself a treat if you dont bite your nails for the day, even if its just a long and relaxing bath, you can make it a bigger treat at the end of the week.

Good luck in your quest to stop biting nails. Think of some ideas of your own and begin today. You can do it!

Do you bite your nails, then I would like to ask if you have ever considered the other negatives and would like to stop biting fingernails once and for all? Obvious effects of nail biting of course mean that you have no nails to speak of and that you may bite your finger-tips as well. This may lead to red and sore fingers which are not that attractive!

You may not be surprised to know that you can easily deform your nails, but there are a series of other effects that people don't always think about and which can carry several negative effects on your fingers and general health. Here are just a few reasons to stop biting your fingernails.

As mentioned above, you may have red, sore finger-tips that may lead to minor or severe bleeding from the cuticles. Such aggressive habitual chewing can lead to some bad infections in the nail bed itself and even in the mouth. In turn, infections or viruses in the mouth can badly affect your teeth and gums and lead to more visits to the dentist that you would like.

It's perhaps obvious to note that transference of infection occurs between the fingers and mouth while you are absent mindedly chewing away at your nails. This absent minded biting often occurs when people get stressed or anxious and may also be a sign of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Getting medical treatment for anxiety or OCD may help you stop biting your fingernails.

If anxiety is a problem for you then it will only be heightened by your knowledge that nail biting is socially unacceptable, making you think about it more and making a greater conscious effort not to bite your nails in public. This is of course a cycle that must be broken and you will certainly need medication and perhaps therapy to stop it.

I'm assuming you know by now that you should stop biting your fingernails. I suggest you first try and identify the reason why you engage in this type of behaviour. When you have done that, if there a medical reason (e.g. OCD or anxiety), then get help.

It is likely that you don't have any particular reason to bite your nails other than to satisfy a habit. If so, there are several methods available to you to try. Not all will work for you, and it may take some time (and money) to find the best method for you personally to stop biting your fingernails, just dont give up.

So, you need to know how to stop biting nails and are probably a habitual nail biter. You may not want really long nails, but just want a decent set that are not bitten to the wick. Thankfully, there are a few things you can try to help you stop.

Medications to help stop biting nails

Strangely, some anti-depressants have proven quite effective in helping to stop biting nails. These medications include fluoxetine, clomipramine, paroxetine, sertraline, fluvoxamine, escitalopram, citalopram, nefazodone and venlafaxine. Anti-depressant medications are often used in conjunction with small amounts of anti-psychotics or the B vitamin inositol which increases serotonin levels in the brain to help stop nail biting habits.

Therapies to help stop biting nails

Behavioural therapy may also be worth trying, in particular, Habit Reversal Training (HRT) which includes four parts and aims to make you stop biting nails and hopefully, make you learn a better constructive habit. Then you would undertake Stimulus Control therapy which is used to recognize and remove any stimulus that leads to nail biting.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)

We form our view of the world in conjunction with our personal experience, values, beliefs and assumptions. We act dependent on our own perceptions rather than the real world itself. NLP behavioural modelling allows the discovery of how we think, feel and behave and often utilises the use of visualisation techniques. So, if you find someone excelling in some particular field you can observe it to learn what actually makes them tick and that could be imbibed. NLP uses many techniques such as hypnosis, which is considered as an effective way to change the thinking and learning communication skills of a person.

There is one simple and effective technique in NLP called anchoring. For example, suppose something made you very happy in the past. You would then visualise that image and try and expand on it by bringing the sounds, feelings and smells back making the image sharper and more focused and it is certain to bring smile to your face.

This could well be used to kick bad habits like nail biting. If you need to stop nail biting you need to concentrate hard by using NLP techniques. It could allow you to change the way you see the world and that would change your behaviour which in turn would help you stop nail biting.

Other therapies

There are various aversion therapies that exist to help stop biting nails such as coating the nails with unpleasant tasting special nail polish. Some suggest wearing a rubber band on the wrist and to snap it when you find yourself biting nails. Chewing gum has also helped some to stop nail biting and if you keep a record of when you bite your nails you may reveal the reason for it as well. I hope the above has given you some ideas on how to stop biting nails.