Hi, I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson, and welcome to episode 24 of the savvy psychologist.

I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

We'll use the best of psychology to help you be happy, healthy, and most importantly, yourself.

The idea for today's podcast comes from listener Sylvie Daly of Marshfield Vermont,

who asked how to stop biting her nails.

I've expanded Sylvie's question to cover nail biting, but also its close cousins,

hair pulling, skin picking, knuckle cracking, lip chewing, and other body-focused repetitive habits.

These habits usually happen without a conscious decision.

Instead, we discover ourselves with the aftermath. Nubby nails, a lip callous, or an accumulation

of inadvertently pulled out hair.

Now, body focus habits can begin at any age, but they usually begin in childhood and peak in the pre-teen years, around

ages 11 to 13.

But whether you're young or young at heart, if your nervous habits are bothering you, listen on for 10 tips to stop body

focus behaviors like going dental on your digits.

Tip number one.

Don't worry.

It's not an indication of some deep, dark, unresolved issue.

Instead, there's evidence that hair pulling, nail biting, and other body focused behaviors

have a neurological origin and are genetically based.

Hair pulling, for instance, seems to run in families.

And pulling and picking even go beyond our species,

animals like cats, dogs, mice, and even monkeys sometimes overgroom.

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