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Bad Habits: why we bite our nails, and what licking our lips does to us

9/30/2018

 
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Licking your Lips
Have you ever been outside on a cold, morning, and you notice your lips are dry, so you lick them? It turns out this only makes them worse! Here’s why: The saliva on your tongue and in your mouth evaporates really fast and when you lick your lips, that saliva evaporates, leaving your lips drier than they were before. Winds and harsh weather can also contribute to dry lips. Your lips have thinner skin than the rest of your body and they don’t have oil glands, both of which makes it easier to dry out. 

Dos and Don'ts for dry lips
According to The Washington Post, don’t:
  1. Lick them!
  2. Eat lots of food that have citrus and salt, they sting dry lips.
  3. Pick your lips, it will cause them to bleed!

According to The Mayo Clinic, Do:
  1. Drink lots of water.
  2. If you have a humidifier, use it in your house.
  3. Wear lip balm, but if you tend to lick your lips, try unflavored lip balm so you're less tempted to.

Biting Your Nails
Biting your nails is a common bad habit, and it can result in too-short nails that hurt. So why do we do it?

People bite their nails for a number of reasons, says WebMD. They could be stressed, worried, sad, insecure, or even just bored or hungry. A range of people bite nails too, such as little kids, teens, and adults, and studies show that if your parents bite their nails or if they did as a kid, their child will be likely to as well.

How do I stop?
Biting your nails doesn’t do anything good for you. According to WebMD, it can mess up the tissue around your nails and make them grow in with a weird shape. If you bite your nails a lot when you're not thinking about it, put socks over your hands whenever you're watching tv or reading. You can also get sick from biting your nails. Just imagine how many things your hands touch every day, and when you bite your nails, that bacteria has the chance to get into your mouth.

So next time you think about biting your nails or licking your lips, just think about what you’re really doing to yourself.

Story by Mattie-Clark Palme


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