How to Stop Biting Your Nails Part 2

As the second installment in this how to guide, here you can see even more tips on how to stop biting your nails. If you haven't already, make sure you read part 1 of our guide to beating the habit of biting your nails as it goes perfectly with the points below. Read, enjoy and beat that habit!

1. Stop all similar habits - Now, this may or may not apply to you but it did to me. When I was still in the habit of biting my nails, I also used to pick the skin around the cuticles and pick my toenails as well - the whole lot! The first time I really made a conscious effort to give up I allowed myself to carry on with the other two similar habits as I told myself this was fine. However, I noticed that, apart from being unpleasant, these two habits were so similar that they kept feeding the itch for picking, biting and fidgeting with nails and did not help me to stop - if anything they merely perpetuated my habit and made it take on a different form. Suffice to say, I went back to biting my nails after several months.
2. Do jaw exercises - Having had a clicking jaw as a result of constant nail-biting, my dentist gave me a list of remedial jaw exercises - I found these not only to relieve tension in my mouth and jaw but also to reduce the desire to chew on something, namely my nails! I should add that they come from the UK's National Health Service and are hence from professionals in the field.
3. Visualisation -This is another topic from Robin S. Sharma's book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari which talks about the power of visualisation in realising any and all of your goals and ambitions. Close your eyes and picture yourself with long, healthy fingernails and how you will feel after letting them grow. If you regularly see this in your mind, it should help you to really get closer to reaching your target of having perfect fingernails.
4. Occupy your fingers and hands - It's true that nail-biting is often a fidgety reaction to when we are nervous or restless but replacing your habit with something else is key to quitting. I know full well that when I am close to biting my nails, just looking at them and laying them flat on the table doesn't work for me. I need to pick up a pen or interlock my fingers to make sure my hands are occuppied and less likely go near my mouth!
5. Keep practising - Having tried to give up nail-biting several times and gone back to it, my last piece of advice would be to make sure you keep up the above techniques for as long as it takes - it's no use going 6 months down the line only to come back to the habit after all your hard work! Figure which techniques are most effective for you and stick to them! As I said before, different things work for different people so try any/all of the above and see how you get on!