Change is hard work and there is no short cut to achieving it. We have all found ourselves in bad habits in one way or another. People spend countless hours and francs each year attempting to break these bad habits and often do not have any success.

The whole reason you formed your habits in the first place is that they filled a need. Can you remember the day you started chewing your nails? You must have been nervous at some teenage time and thought that it was an easier way of escaping shydom.

You went on with the habit until it became an action that you have performed so often that it is now almost an involuntary response.

Your nails and fingertips have now become so sensitive that you may even have to eat that salt and bread cramps with a spoon.

Now for sure you have an underlying problem and the minute you realize that, then you are on your way to recovery. Like many habits, it’s not easy to quit biting your nails. But here are a few suggestions that may help you break the habit.

This is not from an expert but from someone who has been trying to kill the habit for quite sometime now. I am half way there but I can share some tips that have worked for me so far.

Keeping your mouth busy usually helps. Distract the whole urge of biting your nails by chewing gum or sucking on a lollipop. Of course this will be wrong in the office but figure out how to do it inconspicuously.

Well this worked for a while but some people learn to bite their nails with the chewing gum in the mouth. Try to take doctor’s advice on eating foods which are rich in calcium and magnesium to help repair your nails and make them grow.

Maybe if your nails look good, you are less likely to bite them. And biting nails might transfer germs to you, so it does not only make your nails ugly but is a potential health hazard.

Since nail biting initially has a cause before becoming a habit, determining what the cause is might be the best solution which will be easier in making a conscious decision of keeping your hands away from your mouth.

From my experience, breaking any bad habit comes from deep within. All these methods never work effectively if one has not decided and made a firm decision to stop. Although some say it is hereditary, we can always try beating these bad habits. Good luck.
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