There's a Healthy Plus Side to Biting Your Nails Your Parents Are Going to HATE
If you bit your nails growing up, you probably had to resort to hiding in corners to nibble away at your nail beds because your parents HATED it. Sure, chewing on your fingers isn't the best look, but it soothes your nerves, so what is there to do?
Now it turns out there are some health benefits to biting your nails though.
A new study published in Pediatrics found that kids who suck their thumb or bite their nails past preschool age may be less prone to allergic reactions when they reach adolescence and the positive effects seem to last all the way into adulthood.
The study, conducted by Dr. Robert Hancox of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, followed 1,000 children from birth into adulthood. Parents reported on whether their kids sucked their thumb or bit their nails. They found that 31% of participants sucked heir thumbs or bit their nails "frequently" between the ages of 5 and 11, and those kids were one-third less likely than their peers to develop allergies to things like pollen and dust by the time they were 13. The pattern was still the same at age 32 as well.
Although Dr. Hancox says the study can't prove that either habit directly lowered kids' risk of developing these allergies, he believes it all relates to the "hygiene hypothesis," the theory that "exposure to bacteria and other microbes early in life helps steer the immune system toward infection-fighting mode, and away from a tendency toward allergic reactions" according to a report by Health.com. Hancox says it's "difficult to imagine" what other factors could explain the results of the study.
Although Dr. Hancox doesn't suggest biting your nails or sucking your thumb just to avoid allergies, at least you can tell your mom biting your nails is kind of healthy the next time she catches you and threatens to put hot sauce on your fingers.
