Why do some people bite their nails?

For most people biting your nails is just an occasional thing. However, it can also be an oral compulsive habit. Nail biting can be a body-focused repetitive behaviour.

Nail Biting

Why do some people bite their nails?

There are several body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRB) including onychophagia. Onychophagia is the destruction of nails from persistent biting.

Nail biting can become a compulsion and it’s not something that you can just stop doing. When nail biting is a compulsion it is classified as an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Anxiety & Stress

Nail biting can be caused by anxiety and stress and repetitive behaviours like nail biting helps us to feel calm and regulated.

We can also bite our nails through habit and boredom.

Biting your nails doesn’t generally cause long-term damage. But it can cause damage to your nails and nails bed. If you bite the skin around your nails this can become infected. You can also be more susceptible to colds and other infections from your fingers to your mouth.

Chewigems Can Help

Why do some people bite their nails?

You can redirect from nail biting by finding a safe alternative to chew when you are feeling stressed or anxious. This can be difficult but when you get the urge to bite your nails redirecting will help. Being consistent with redirection will really help and after time you will automatically chew your Chewigem rather than your nails.

You can find all of our Chewigems Here