Biting one’s nails may appear like a harmless habit, but it’s actually more dangerous than most people realize. Whether you bite your nails out of habit, boredom, or stress, there can be some unpleasant and unanticipated consequences.
There are more serious hazards that could harm your general health in addition to the immediate harm to your nails. Biting your nails can lead to a number of preventable problems, such as infections and dental problems.
We’ll go over the numerous reasons to break the habit of biting your nails in this article. To healthier hands and a healthier you, it can be helpful to be aware of the possible outcomes.
Issue | Consequences |
---|---|
Infections | Biting your nails can introduce bacteria and germs, leading to infections in the nail bed and surrounding skin. |
Damage to Teeth | Nail-biting can cause misalignment and damage to your teeth, leading to dental issues. |
Skin Problems | Frequent biting can lead to skin problems, including hangnails and painful cuts around the nails. |
Gastrointestinal Issues | Swallowing bits of nails or dirt can lead to stomach problems and infections. |
Emotional Stress | Often, nail-biting is a sign of stress or anxiety, which can lead to a cycle of emotional and physical problems. |
- Why is nail biting dangerous?
- Health consequences
- Consequences for the nail plate
- Why it"s harmful to bite your nails, but it"s hard not to bite
- Video on the topic
- Who lives under the nails? Dirt and worms under the nails
- What will happen if you bite your nails
- Why you can’t bite your nails and fingers? (short cartoon)
- Why is it really impossible to bite your nails
- Why are we gnawing nails – scientific
- ONYCHOPHAGIA! What will happen if you bite your nails?
Why is nail biting dangerous?
The purpose of nails as a part of the body is to shield the nerve endings on the fingers from harm, but as they grow, dirt gets trapped beneath them due to their structure. It is exceedingly risky. Eighty percent of infections that enter the body come through the hands, according to research. There are approximately 300 different kinds of bacteria on hands right now, when you are reading this, and the majority of them are found under the nails.
Dermatologists believe that the primary site of bacterial and microbiological accumulation is the nail tip. This occurs when we touch things with our hands without realizing if they are clean or dirty. The majority of women with long nails are at risk of contracting this infection because more bacteria can grow there. Until the nail tips come into contact with the mucous membranes in the mouth, nose, eyes, or ears, there is nothing to be concerned about.
Image sourced from YouTube.com
If you have varnish on your nails but are unable to break the bad habit, keep in mind that the damage will be doubled. Formaldehyde is a component in nearly all varnishes. It is poisonous and detrimental to the skin, nervous system, and respiratory system. Formaldehyde and nail varnish enter the body when you bite your nails.
Health consequences
Many pathogens and their waste products, or toxins, are hidden under the nails of even recently cleaned hands. What occurs when you bite your fingernails:
- It is not visible visually, but microbes and bacteria often remain under the nails. Researchers have found that salmonella bacteria often remain under the nails, which enter through the mouth. As a result, salmonellosis can disrupt the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. In severe forms, it has symptoms similar to typhus and fever. Symptoms of such a disease will be: high body temperature, chills, headache, stomach pain, vomiting, nausea and diarrhea.
- There is a high risk of getting a fungus if you touch the skin when biting your nails. First, the nail plate weakens, and small cracks begin to appear on it. Then the nail becomes thicker and yellow spots appear, which have a characteristic odor. The skin around the nail can become inflamed, sometimes suppuration forms, which cannot be eliminated without the help of doctors.
- The papilloma virus takes root well under the nails, which, getting into the oral cavity, affects the surface of the gums and teeth. This is a serious disease, at the initial stage appearing on the skin in the form of a wart. Over time, it can turn into a malignant tumor. Getting into the mouth, papilloma can form on the tongue, in the throat, larynx, on the lip or gum.
- Worm eggs often live under the nail plates. You stroked a sick yard dog and immediately forgot about it, but the pathogen will remain under your nails, and if you start gnawing them, the consequences will quickly remind you of themselves. It is very easy to become infected with worms while doing ordinary household chores: replanting flowers or washing surfaces.
- Enterotoxins that can remain under the nails after working in the kitchen with raw meat or vegetables, when they enter the intestines, cause food poisoning.
- Diseases of dirty hands, such as dysentery, hepatitis A and E, can put you in a hospital bed for a long time. And even banal respiratory infections can also be transmitted through hands.
The picture illustrates the most benign result of biting your nails:
Image from the www.youtube.com website
Consequences for the nail plate
An individual who bites their nails on a regular basis runs the risk of damaging their nail plate. It is common for children to actively bite their nails beginning at the age of four. The plate loses its attractive appearance and gets deformed when someone bites their nails a lot.
The following occurs when you bite your fingernails:
- A series of grooves appear on the nail plate, located longitudinally or transversely and resembling waves.
- The nail becomes concave, spoon-shaped.
- The nail shape becomes unnatural, and the nail itself is too big. This happens because the nail folds are raised, and the nail plate becomes denser.
- The nail can peel off, lose strength and crumble. There is a high probability that spots will appear on the nail plate.
Image sourced from livesbloggz.com
Teeth can be severely harmed by the habit of biting nails. It permits infection to enter the oral cavity, resulting in stomatitis and gum inflammation, the formation of oral ulcers, and uncomfortable eating experiences. In addition to loosening your teeth, biting your nails removes tooth enamel.
You should not take this habit lightly or give it little attention because biting your nails has consequences that you will discover for yourself. As an example, consider what happens when you bite your nails.
The habit of biting nails can sometimes be a sign of an onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder. An individual suffering from this disorder engages in obsessive thoughts that result in repetitive behaviors. He hopes to ease his anxiety through them. Put another way, he suppresses stress by biting his nails all the time. Once obsessive-compulsive disorder is identified, it can be challenging to manage without professional assistance from a psychologist.
Naturally, you should be mindful of how this habit appears to those in your immediate vicinity. The image illustrates the result of biting your fingernails. At these times, you appear ugly, and your messy nails constantly give the impression that you are careless. The ramifications will become apparent during an interview, a meeting with business partners, or a romantic date, even if you take every precaution to ensure that the process is hidden from view.
Image sourced from http://gorod.khudzhand.mnogonado.tj
You bite your fingernails and the skin around them, which causes hangnails to form. These are hard to remove. Unwanted infections can enter the body through tiny wounds caused by hangnails. Watch the video at the conclusion of the article to get a clear understanding of why you shouldn’t bite your nails.
Although it may not seem harmful, biting your nails can cause a number of issues, including long-term dental problems, infections, and damaged nails. Biting your nails can have negative effects on your health and wellbeing in addition to appearance. You may kick the habit and maintain the health of your nails by being aware of these negative effects.
Why it"s harmful to bite your nails, but it"s hard not to bite
Some people bite their nails as a coping mechanism for anxiety and high emotional stress, or as a way to decompress. Some people bite their nails because they find this repetitive motion to be an indispensable part of their daily lives. As a matter of fact, the reason you bite your nails will determine the best course of action.
Image from the website bagiraclub.ru
Numerous factors are recognized by psychologists as initiating an unconscious bad habit. It will be simpler to deal with your subconscious if you examine the causes of your nail biting:
- The habit of biting nails usually haunts us since childhood, and in adulthood it becomes a natural reaction to conflict situations. If as a child you were very worried about quarrels and arguments, and started biting your nails, now it happens automatically.
- Lack of self-confidence is also a reason for biting your nails. Thus, you can try to hide your nervousness by switching your attention to something else.
- A certain part of people bite their nails because they believe that it contributes to their thought process.
- Often, having a bad habit, a person begins to blame himself for it, and from this he succumbs to it even more. If you bite your nails, and you know why you should not do it, it may be a consequence of anger at yourself, which you express in this way.
- The problem may also lie in your nails, if they are too brittle.
- A forgotten childhood habit can again become relevant for people who have given up smoking or have gone on a diet in an effort to lose weight.
Image sourced from http://www.nuhvatit.ru/
Now that you know the reason behind your inability to bite your nails, it’s best to act upon your newfound knowledge.
Biting your nails is not just a habit; it can cause a number of problems that can negatively impact your appearance and health. In addition to the short-term aesthetic harm caused by uneven or chipped nails, biting your nails can harbor pathogenic bacteria and result in infections. For people who already have health issues or weakened immune systems, this can be especially problematic.
Furthermore, frequent nail biting can harm your nails and the skin around them over time. Your nails may become weaker due to the ongoing trauma, increasing the likelihood that they will break and peel. This has an impact on your nails’ general health and growth in addition to how they appear.
It might take some time and effort to break the nail-biting habit, but it’s worth it in the long run for your health. You can enhance both your physical and mental well-being by adopting more constructive coping strategies and devoting time to nail care. Thus, stop biting your nails and give them the attention they need!