If these 6 reasons don't make you quit biting...nothing will

Article by BR Amelia

Are your nails thin, brittle or weak?  The common cause of nails lacking strength is onychophagia.  That's nail biting to you and me.  Which we all know is unhygenic and well, gross.  But in the nail biter's defense (ok in my defense) it really is a tough habit to break.  That being said, if you are a biter, by golly gosh, you need to quit.

Here's six reasons why.

1. Your fingernails contain twice the bacteria of your fingers - basically, whatever your hands touch during the day makes it into your mouth, where it breeds and multiplies causing infections, particularly gum and throat infections.

2. Three words.  The Common Cold.  If you're a biter and are prone to picking up colds the answer is simple.  Nail Biters catch more colds because they're literally putting the germs into their mouths.  Oh and how about another word.  Hepatitis.  We'll leave it there, but know this...we speak the truth!

3. Biting the skin around your nails can remove the cuticle, opening your nail bed up to bacterial and viral infections.  We're talking fungus, yeast and oozing pus. 

4. Nail biting can cause dental problems such as affecting tooth alignment and causing gum injury.  Regular biting can shift your teeth out of position as well as wearing them down and weakening them!

5. Saliva reddens the skin around your nails and the more inflammed skin is, the more prone to hangnails it is, which in turn increase paronychia; infections of the skin around the nail.  It's a vicious cycle y'all.  

6. Fingernails can become severely deformed after years of biting and worse - the longer you bite before quitting, the more at risk you are of an ingrown nail.  Yes, these don't just happen to your toes!

So many icky feels right now!  So its time to find something else to replace biting your nails with and make 2018 the year you finally broke the habit.  Get playing with a hair tie or twirling a ring, or dig out the already-forgotten fidget spinner, and preoccupy yourself.  Your health is literally at risk!