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Nail Biting | Stop Nail Biting
NAIL BITING WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT? At first Nail biting doesn't seem like much of a big deal, but when looked at on a closer level this behavior is clearly troublesome. The official word that you'll find in the dictionary for nail biting is Onychophagia and it often has its onset during childhood, frequently between the ages of four to ten. While the nail biting behavior very often continues into adult hood, it tends to be the most prevelant during puberty. In fact, approximaite thirty percent of those in the US will engage in the nail biting habit during some perioud of their life. Children with a nail biting habit will often not know when to quit, and will have sometimes painfully short nails as a result. It can also lead to damage to the cuticles as well as the skin around the nails - sometimes bleeding will happen as a result of this, and in rare cases even infections can occur. There was a study done by Malon and Massmer out of Chicago where it was found that over fifty percent of kids between the ages of eight and ten engaged in nail biting. It's also commonly thought that nail biting is a habit that children pick up from their elders, including family members or those that otherwise surround them. Those who have the nail biting habit will likely tell you that it is a hard thing to break. One idea is for nailbiters to try and finger out what causes them to bite their nails in the first place (perhaps anxiety?), and try to solve it that way. Most nail biters engage in the activity only in private, and that leads researchers to believe that it is a form of self indulgence. No matter the reason that someone bites their nails, it is a habit that is very common and effects both men and women of all social and economic backgrounds indescriminately.
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