Why is it that some people bite off parts of their body, or push their hands together
until their joints make noises?
Humans are so weird.
Why do we do this?!
Yo nail-biters, Trace here for DNews, what's up?
Pia Hansen sent us a good question recently, about why people develop weird habits like
nail-biting and knuckle-popping.
So, I looked into it!
Firstly, nail biting is a bad habit, but unless it becomes extreme, it's probably not harmful.
If it's a regular, pathological thing, it can become what's called "pathological grooming."
Which is uncontrolled, extreme grooming behaviors, like nail biting, skin picking, or hair pulling.
On the other hand, or… the OTHER other hand…
Scientists only recently learned what cracking your knuckles is actually DOING inside your
fingers.
The sound is caused by "cavitation via tribonucleation…"
Basically, gas dissolved in the fluid between your joints forms a bubble, and the sound
is caused when the bubble FORMS, not pops.
And though it's weird lookin', scientists don't think it's harmful.
But the underlying question, as I see it, is why we have ANY HABIT.
Neuroscientists have tried to figure out where habits come from, and traced the path back
to a part of the brain called the basal ganglia -- it's connected with coordination and movement.
It's likely not the only system involved, because habits are complex behaviors, but
numerous studies, keep coming back to the ol' BG.
From a psychological perspective, a habit needs a few things to form: a trigger, an
action, and a reward.
Together, they can form a habit-loop.
The habit loop is built on the idea that at some point, you got a reward for doing the
action in the first place.
For example: Let's say you have a hangnail, it hurts… you pick at it, but it just hurts
more…
so you pull it out with your teeth!
Boom no more hangnail, no more pain!
Trigger, action, reward!
Simple behavioral training.
Finger cracking could be the same, though the reward is somewhat more nebulous…
Dr. Rachel Vreeman told NBC News, it could just be a "physical release!"
Maybe it just feels good?
Or maybe you just like the noise!
How that one moment of pleasure turns into a habit is through repetition.
If you bite a hangnail enough times, you'll stop thinking about doing it, and then you
have a habit.
Our brain is super lazy, so if we can offload a task to our subconscious, we're going to!
So once a habit is established, we stop thinking about it.
Literally, we stop sending the behavioral activity from the basal ganglia to the prefrontal
cortex.
The PfC is where we make decisions…
so if we're not engaging that, we're literally not "thinking about it" before we do it.
Commonly, this can take from 15 to 254 DAYS of training.
Most of the time, if a habit isn't physically harmful, it’s just considered a bad social
habit, but if a habit creates open wounds or sores, begins wearing down teeth, or if
someone is literally pulling their hair out… doctors can diagnose it as a psychological
condition.
This means your brain has likely paired nail-biting, for example, with relief of anxiety or stress.
Damaging, compulsive nail-biting is called onychophagia, and it's referred to as a "stress
removal habit" by the Indian Journal of Dental Research and appears on the spectrum of Obsessive
Compulsive Disorders in the DSM-V.
Why some people pair stress relief with a habit isn't really clear.
But a 1970s twin study found there may be a genetic link.
Nail biting was practiced by nearly one-third of the 338 twin pairs, more in girls than
boys; and it was more common in twins who came from the same zygote!
Habits CAN be broken, but it takes work!
You simply have to remind yourself to run your actions BACK through your prefrontal
cortex!
That's why your mom put bandages or hot sauce on your fingers to keep you from biting your
nails -- it reminded you to pay attention so you could kick the habit!
I don't bite my nails, but I DO I shake my leg a lot, like… a LOT a lot.
Why do we fidget?
What's up with that?
Luckily, a handsome devil looked into it over here.
Are you a nail-biter?
A finger-popper?
Do you have tips to stop?
Share 'em here and ask us more science questions with the hashtag AskDNews!