Everyone has habits that either annoy themselves or annoy the people around them. This habit can range from smoking to chewing with one’s mouth open. A habit that some of the people do without consisously knowing that they are doing it is biting their finger nails. Biting one’s fingernails is not a habit that endangers anyone else but it is slightly annoying to see someone who always has their fingers in their mouth. Also by always having their fingers in their mouths people who bite their finger nails have a greater chance of getting sick because of always having their hand one and near their face. There are several ways to help break this habit.
1) Polish
By paint one’s fingernail it helps prevent biting them in a couple of ways. First, the polish will make one’s fingernails not taste awful but not great either. Secondly, instead of biting their nails a person with the habit can simple pick the polish off instead, this is not a way of completely breaking the habit but is a step in the right direction. Lastly, if someone is conscious of the fact that their nails look nice, then they will also be more conscious of what they are doing in regards to biting their finer nails.
2) The Buddy System
By having a friend or family member tell the person with the habit when they are biting their fingernails, it will also make them more aware of when and why they bite their finger nails. While, at the same time helping them stop by keeping it at the front of their mind.
3) Concentrate
It is not a small issue; if it is important to a person to break any habit then they should take it seriously and concentrate on breaking the habit. The person trying to break the habit should not down play the importance of breaking the habit if it is something that they want to do.
4) Don’t Do It for Any Reason
If the person has a hang nail or a piece of their finger nail breaking off, they should not bite it off because breaking the habit is a all or nothing process, instead they should tear it off or find finger nail clippers.
5) Acrylics
If after trying to break the habit for an extended period of time and little has been accomplished in regards to breaking the habit then the person can have acrylic finger nails put on, this changes the feel of the nails when trying to bite them and they not break off changing the benefits and feeling received from the habit.
6) Bad Tasting
By placing either something spicy or bad tasting on one’s nails they will be aware of when they are biting their nails and will also be less likely to do it because of the taste.
