Nail-biting is generally viewed as a nasty habit that we try and get kids to quit before they get older, or try and quit ourselves if our parents efforts were futile. Unfortunately, I am a nail-biter myself, and I have tried to quit a few times but with no luck. But unless you bite them so badly that you hurt yourself, how much damage are you actually doing?
By biting your fingernails you are exposing you body to a lot of germs, that you usually wouldn’t, which is why many people think that nail-biting can lead to getting sick more often. Surprisingly, however, it is the opposite. By biting your nails an d constantly exposing your body and immune system to different types of bacteria keeps your immune system working and might make you less sick than the average person. By exposing your body to more bacteria your more likely to be able to fight off similar strands, therefore strengthening your immune system.
Nail biting is also a stress reliever, so those of us that bite our nails are also less stressed, even if we look kind of gross doing it. Psychiatrist Carol Matthews explained how nail-biting is a better, more healthy way to relieve stress, as it gives a satisfying feeling to the nail biter but has no real bad side-effects as opposed to smoking.
There is however no solid evidence to back up the idea that biting your nails boosts your immune system. We could take a large test group and have half of them bite their nails and the other half avoid putting their hands in their mouths and monitor their general health for a period of time to see if there were any noticeable changes. Personally, I rarely get sick so I would believe I have an abnormally strong immune system from biting my nails for all these years.
Sources:
http://www.gurl.com/2013/04/11/bad-habits-health-benefits-farting-burping/
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/why-biting-your-nails-could-actually-be-good-for-you/story-fneuzlbd-1227055862972
I cannot wait to tell my mom about this! My sister has always been a huge nail biter and my mom always gets her in trouble for it. In fact, she even made her paint her nails one time with the nail polish that tastes horrible. This nail polish goes to show that many people consider this habit to be harmful. It is interesting to now think about how it could be a habit that has some benefits to it.
This blog is very interesting to me because I bite my nails excessively! Whether I am sitting in class, working on homework, talking to a friend, I always seem to be biting my nails. I am not sure why I do it, maybe it is just because I am bored? It is good to see that something beneficial is coming out of my bad habit, though. My immune system seems to be pretty strong, but that could just be because of genes or something other than nail biting. It will be cool to learn more about nail biting benefits as scientists continue researching this topic.
I found this blog post very interesting, the title caught my eye because i am a nail biter myself. My mom has always told me to get my fingers out of my mouth and that nail biting was bad for me but i never listened. Instead, this article brings up that the germs you are exposing yourself too are actually good for you. I still find it hard to believe, even though you make compelling arguments that biting your nails could actually be good for you, especially exposing yourself to your bodies germs. I guess that is why there has been no solid test done yet, but i thought it was cool that you came up with an idea on how you could perform one, definitely makes it seem like you put a lot of thought into it.
I actually wrote one of my blog posts on nail biting and found that it does have many negative side effects. On top of making nails look gross and ugly, there are many germs that hide under nails and resurface when we begin to bite. One of the scariest things I learned was that herpes was linked to nail biting. I, myself, am a nail biter and have been for as long as I can remember. I have tried to break the habit many times but it was never successful. Even after learning that there are bad side effects, I still bite my nails. In fact, I was probably biting my nails while writing the blog.
I found this blog post very interesting. I was always yelled at as a child for biting my fingernails, not only because it looks bad but because I was putting my fingers into my mouth. It does make sense that our body does need to be exposed to different germs to become immune to them. I have seen studies that have said that some germs are becoming immune to anti-bacterial soaps, so maybe we really can’t get rid of all the bacteria that are on our hands. People who are immune to more germs do not get sick as quickly than people who are always washing their hands. It is important to have some exposure to bacteria.
I’ve always thought that nail biting was very unhealthy. Essentially, you’re putting germs and who knows what into your body and just hoping that your body will process it. I can definitely see how nail biting could relieve stress and that it a health benefit, but how can we be sure that your body is effectively fighting the germs you put in it from nail biting? By putting those germs in your body, wouldn’t you be more prone to sickness, not the other way around? Or maybe this is one of those things that seems like it should make sense, but apparently we as humans have a bad intuition so who knows. I think this is something that should definitely be looked into because I know tons of people who bite their nails and if there was concrete evidence that it was unhealthy for you that it could definitely persuade some people to quit.
I think it’s interesting that you brought up the idea of boosting the immune system. I often think that we should expose ourselves to bacteria more often (in moderation, of course). In fact, our germaphobic society may be doing more harm than good. Studies have shown that anti-bacterial soaps may be breeding super germs. Those who clean excessively may be especially vulnerable to illness. Maybe we should all put aside and allow some germs in our life. Nail biting may destroy your manicure, but it could help prevent sickness.