The idea that there is a magic number of repetitions or days to form any habit is a fallacy.
Stop biting your nails with these 8 ways based on the latest psychological research on habit change.
Stop biting your nails with these 8 ways based on the latest psychological research on habit change.
The bad habit of biting your nails is much more common than you might think.
Some studies have found about one-quarter of children bite their nails habitually (Ghanizadeh & Shekoohi, 2011), others say it may peak at almost 45 percent in adolescence (Peterson et al., 1994).
More surprisingly, the prevalence of biting nails amongst adults may be just as high, with some estimates at 50 percent (Hansen et al., 1990).
Here’s my 8-step guide on how to stop biting your nails based on the psychological research:
It might seem redundant to say, but any change, including to stop biting your nails has to be desired, really desired.
And for such a simple behaviour, biting your nails is surprisingly hard to quit, perhaps partly because it doesn’t seem that big a deal and our hands are always with us.
This is especially a problem if you are trying to change someone else’s behaviour.
One method for boosting motivation to stop biting nails is to think carefully about the positive aspects of changing the habit, for example attractive looking nails and a sense of accomplishment.
Also, make the negative aspects of nail-biting as dramatic as possible in your mind.
If you tend to think it’s no big deal then you’re unlikely to make the change.
In addition, you can try mental contrasting, which has been backed by psychological research on habit change.
It doesn’t matter if it’s you or your child that you’re trying to change, suppression does not work.
Punishing a child for nail biting is a bad move.
They will know it’s a way to attract attention and they will use it.
The same is true when changing your own habit of nail biting.
Trying to tell your unconscious to stop doing something is like trying to tell a child.
It reacts childishly by doing the complete opposite.
Here’s the technical explanation for why thought suppression is counter-productive.
One of the keys to habit change is developing a new, good (or at least neutral) response that can compete with the old, bad habit.
The best types are ones that are incompatible with your old habit.
So, for biting your nails you could try:
If you keep your nails clipped short then there is less temptation to bite them.
Some people recommend having a manicure because the money spent, along with how much better your nails look, will deter you from biting them.
You could also paint your nails a bright colour as a reminder, although most men seem to find this look difficult to pull off—I can’t imagine why.
Another method is to wear something around your wrist, like a bracelet or elastic band, to remind you of your goal.
Remember that habits live in the unconscious so you bite your nails automatically.
Visual cues are a way of reminding you of the change you want to make.
Research has even shown that a wristband that is difficult to remove can be helpful (Koritzy & Yechiam, 2011).
Habits are heavily bound up with situations.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to spot habits because they are performed unconsciously.
However you may spot particular times during the day when nail biting occurs, like while watching TV.
If you can bear it, enlist those around you to help point out when you are biting your nails.
Painting your fingernails with that nasty tasting fluid can help pull you out of autopilot and alert you to situations in which the habit is performed.
But it probably won’t work on its own.
Some people even say they get to like, or at least tolerate, the taste!
Just like situations, our thoughts and feelings cue up our behaviour.
If you can spot the types of things you are thinking about or feeling when nail biting, then this can help.
Some people like to use mindfulness as a way of increasing self-awareness.
When you notice the thoughts coming (for example, anxiety) you can prepare your alternative response (for example, getting the worry beads out of your pocket).
Your new replacement habit will build with repetition, but at first it will have to compete with your old habit.
Try to avoid beating yourself up for nail biting slip-ups, as they are bound to happen.
It’s a gradual process. (See: The Surprising Motivational Power of Self-Compassion)
Keeping the new response going can be hard.
One method to make your progress to stop nail biting more obvious to yourself is to take pictures of your nails on your phone every few days (Craig, 2010).
When you see how far you’ve come (or, alternately how little progress has been achieved), this should help push you on.
Remember that old habits do not die; they lie in the unconscious waiting to be reactivated.
Go easy on yourself if you slip-up and start biting your nails again, but remember that a lot of the battle with bad habits is about self-awareness.
People often wonder if biting your nails is a symptom of a deeper problem.
Perhaps if that deeper problem were fixed, the nail-biting would go away on its own?
Opinion is divided on whether this is true.
Counter-intuitively, there is no strong evidence that biting your nails is related to anxiety.
Worse, it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to use introspection to probe the unconscious for the reasons for our behaviours (yes, that’s why they call it the unconscious!).
Most, though, agree that whatever the cause, the learned habit needs to be targeted.
So start with these approaches and see how it goes.
If it’s not working, try making small tweaks, like using a different replacement habit, and then have another go.
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Happy New Year! Now to business: how to plan for a successful New Year’s resolution this year.
How to make exercise a habit that’s hard to break.
Many people believe that a lack of willpower is the reason they cannot change, but this study finds otherwise.
The “question-behaviour effect” can help motivate you.
The “question-behaviour effect” can help motivate you.
“Will you exercise this year?”
Just being asked that question could be enough to change your behaviour.
That’s the result of a survey of 40 years of research in this area.
The study found that the so-called “question-behaviour effect” can be powerful in many different areas of life.
Asking a question is probably better than making a statement for influencing behaviour.
Dr Dave Sprott, one of the study’s authors, said:
“If you question a person about performing a future behavior, the likelihood of that behavior happening will change.”
When people are asked whether they recycle, of example, it is a subtle reminder that it is good for the environment.
If they don’t already recycle, or exercise, or eat healthily, it can lead to uncomfortable feelings.
Recycling — or whatever the behaviour is — will alleviate those feelings.
Professor Eric R. Spangenberg, the study’s first author, explained:
“We found the effect is strongest when questions are used to encourage behavior with personal and socially accepted norms, such as eating healthy foods or volunteering.
But it can be used effectively to even influence consumer purchases, such as a new computer.”
The relatively simple technique has been found to work in a variety of different domains.
These include cheating less in college, reducing gender stereotyping, encouraging exercising and recycling.
Dr Sprott said:
“It is pretty easy to ask a question, and it can be done in a variety of means, such as ads, mailers, online media, and interpersonal communications.”
Sometimes, though, the technique does not work as well — usually when people already perform the target behaviour a lot.
For example, asking someone if they will be doing a lot of drinking or skipping classes can cause them to increase these behaviours.
Questions can work much better, the researchers found, than statements.
→ Read on: 10 Step Guide for Making Your New Year’s Resolutions
The study was published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology (Spangenberg et al., 2015).
The habit is highly distracting and depletes our mental energy.
The habit is linked to a 42% lower chance of obesity.
The habit is linked to a 42% lower chance of obesity.
Eating more slowly is linked to lower obesity and a slimmer waist, new research finds.
People eating slowly were 42% less likely to be obese than those eating faster, the large study found.
Eating slowly may help people feel fuller more quickly because of how the body’s insulin levels respond to slower eating.
Two other simple habits were also linked to weight loss:
The study followed almost 60,000 people in Japan for five years.
All categorised their eating speed as either slow, medium or fast.
Around one-third ate their food quickly, half at a normal rate and the rest were slow eaters
The results revealed that slow eaters were more likely to be healthy and to have a healthier lifestyle.
People eating at a normal speed were 29% less likely to be obese and those eating slowly were 42% less likely to be obese.
The slower people ate, the slimmer their waists.
The study’s authors concluded:
“Changes in eating habits can affect obesity, BMI, and waist circumference.
Interventions aimed at reducing eating speed may be effective in preventing obesity and lowering the associated health risks.”
Note: the study was observational, so firm conclusions cannot be drawn about cause and effect.
The study was published in the journal BMJ Open (Hurst et al., 2018).
Simple procedure enhances flexible thinking and shakes off old ideas.
Simple procedure enhances flexible thinking and shakes off old ideas.
Simply washing your hands could be enough to help let go of old ideas, new research finds.
A team of psychologists at the University of Toronto has found that cleaning your hands is enough to leave behind old goals and allow you to pursue new ones.
For the study people were ‘primed’ with a goal.
Priming involves unconsciously activating a goal in someone’s mind.
The results showed that when people subsequently wiped their hands, they forgot about this unconscious goal.
Ms Ping Dong, the study’s first author, said:
“For people who were primed with a health goal, for example, using the handwipe reduced their subsequent tendency to behave in a healthy manner — they were more likely to choose a chocolate bar over a granola bar.”
Other studies have shown that physical cleansing can help a person get over guilt from immoral behaviour.
Similarly, wiping the body clean also seems to help wipe the mind clean.
Ms Dong pointed out, though, that this study only tested the short-term effects of cleansing on goal pursuit.
The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (Dong & Lee et al., 2017).
Psychologists find first experimental evidence for new way of getting out of a rut.
Psychologists find first experimental evidence for new way of getting out of a rut.
It may be possible to deliberately ‘forget’ long-standing habits, according to new experiments carried out at Regensburg University in Germany.
According to this new research, merely telling yourself to forget about the habit after performing it may prove helpful.
This adds to the techniques for changing habits which have support from psychological research.
Two types of these are:
But what about after you’ve performed the habit you want to change? Is there anything you can do then?
In the experiment, participants were taught a habit which involved connections between words and particular responses (Dreisbach & Bäuml, 2014).
Sometimes, though, halfway through learning the habit, participants were casually told to forget what they’d learnt so far.
The results showed that deliberately forgetting about a newly formed habit affected how that habit was performed.
When people were told to forget that habit, they duly did as they were told.
Naturally, this study only tests the procedure in controlled laboratory conditions, rather than in everyday life.
Also, the habits were newly formed, rather than long-standing.
Nevertheless, the technique could prove a useful addition to the other methods of habit change that are well-established.
Image credit: frank fani
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