Nail Biting Treatment

Nail biting is a highly addictive habit where an individual tend to bite every bit of extra nails from the nail bed. The habit starts in the childhood or teens and continues till the adult age of 20-22 years. Usually, adults above the age of 30 do not have the habit of nail biting. Boys are more prone to nail biting than girls. That is why nail biting treatment is important. The main nail biting causes are stress, anxiety, excitement, boredom etc. Children can learn the behavior from some family members who have the habit of nail biting. Most of the times, people who have the habit of nail biting are not conscious when they are actually biting the nails. Read more on nail biting causes.

Treatment for Nail Biting

Here we have discussed all those nail biting remedies that can force you to keep off your nails away from your mouth till you can get rid of nail biting habit.

Nail Biting Solution: You have to apply the solution on the top of the nails. Nail biting solution has a bitter and unpleasant taste. Therefore, if you unconsciously put the fingers in your mouth, the taste of the solution will remind you of not to bite the nail. This solution is available in any of the pharmacy stores. It has helped many people to get rid of this habit. As the solution wears off fast, you have to apply it again and again.

Acrylic Nails: These are artificial nails made up of synthetic materials that you can use to cover up your natural nails till they become a full grown nail. It will take around 2-3 weeks for the nails to grow completely, till then you can make conscious efforts to quit the habit of biting nails. However, do not wear acrylic nails for a long time as they can cause damage to the natural proteins of the natural nails.

Manicure: This is one of the most effective nail biting remedies for women. The properly trimmed and filed nails look so attractive that they do not feeling like biting them and make them ugly. After a manicure, apply a bitter tasting nail polish that can stop you from biting nails. Such nail polish are available in colorless form as well which can be used by men.

Covering the Hands: When you are sitting at home reading a book or watching TV, then you start biting nails without being aware of it. It can be avoided if you cover your hand with gloves. When you go out, you can cover each of the fingernails with adhesive bandages so that you do not get the scope to bite the nails.

How to Stop Nail Biting?

Those who have the habit of nail biting know very well that it is not very easy to control the habit. You need a lot of will power to stop yourself from biting nails. Here we have spoken about some of the techniques that can help you control your urge to bite the nails.

Instead of trying to stop biting all the nails at the same time, you can set aside one finger of each hand every week that you are not going to bite. You can bite the nails of the other four fingers. In one week, you will find that the urge to bite those two nails have gone down to a great extent. Exclude two more nails for the next week. After few weeks, you will have only one nail on each hand to bite. This will make it easier for you to quit the habit.

Keep a record of when you tend to bite the nails more. You may find that when you are not doing anything you feel like biting nails. Therefore, involve in such activities like painting, writing or simply squeezing a ball where your hands are kept busy and you cannot bite the nails. If you get an instinct to chew something and so you bite nails then chewing gum or toothpick can be used to keep the urge at bay.

If you bite your nails to release the tension within you then you have to learn some stress management techniques. There are several methods of relaxation that can help you to calm down your tensed nerves. Meditation is an excellent relaxation technique for this purpose. Yoga and deep breathing can help to develop control over breathing and relax your muscles.