How difficult is it, stopping yourself from biting your nails, so much you start to wonder if it isn’t genetic or hereditary. Well, it is very likely kids whose parents bit their nails to do same. Studies have also shown the possibility even when the parents stop before their kid are born.
Nail biting for the different person is as a result of different reasons.
For some, nail biting is simply one of the many Body-Focused Repetitive Disorder, characterized by impulsivity.
For others, it could be a sign of mental stress, emotional imbalance or anxiety disorder. Whatever the case may be, biting your nails does have its downsides which you should know, both health and social wise.
Exposing skin to bacteria from your mouth
Mixed race woman biting her nail. Photo: Facebook
The mouth houses bacteria that cause infection, harmful to your health when exposed to the delicate skin beneath your nails. It also houses saliva, which is filled with chemical compositions that aid digestion but that is however where its necessity resides in.
Think about it, why do you think your lips get chapped from licking them? This is because the saliva is corroding them, which is the same thing that happens to the skin surrounding your nails, inflaming and damaging it. Asides that, how about what it look to the other person seeing you pick your nails?
Exposing your mouth to pathogens
It works both ways, you know. Granting access to your mouth, the microorganisms on your fingers is as bad as exposing your fingers to bacteria in your mouth. The hands do practically all the activities you engage, going as many places as possible, coming in contact with all the imaginable which is not exactly serving as food nor nutrient to the body.
Nail Deformity, social implication
The fingernails contain a generative layer called the matrix from which the nail cells flowers. Continuous biting off your nails, with the infections that come with it, can damage the matrix. Thereby making it growth weird. It gets worse. Communication and social interaction go together with your mouth as well as your hands. Think about displaying such in a social gathering and think again about biting your nails.
Dental issues, smiling gets hard
It starts with fractures on the teeth you use to nibble on your nails. Progresses to destroying the socket that holds the teeth and then to the teeth becoming crooked. Further down the lane, laughing or smiling gets hard because showing off such means probably answering questions you do not want to.
Nail biting is not just a habit anymore if it affects you in more ways than one. Breaking it off becomes essential.
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