SCOTT GULLEDGE / Scroll
A common habit is popping knuckles or any joint. Most people believe this habit will make your knuckles become larger, though research shows this is just a myth.

Biting nails, cracking knuckles and arthritis

Breaking habits and the myths that accompany them

Lindsay Law LAW05002@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

A guy in your class systematically pops every joint in his fingers. A girl steadily drums her fingers on the desk while another student chews his pencil to bits.

Habits affect many students at BYU-Idaho, and some have suffered for years from one tendency or another.

One common habit is nail biting. Rachel Swan, a senior from Issaquah, Wash., bites her nails and said nail polish is her saving grace.

Nail biting is just one of many nervous tics students have.

“Biting fingers is like second nature to me,” said Jose Alvarez, a freshman from West New York, N.J.

“I shake my leg when I talk to girls,” said Cliff Smith, a sophomore from South Jordan, Utah.

Another common habit, popping and cracking joints, is rumored to cause arthritis later in life and make the joints grow larger.

Dr. Bryan Hammar, a family physician at Community Care in Rigby, Idaho, said otherwise.

“There are no clinical studies or literature that would suggest popping one’s knuckles would cause the early development of degenerative arthritis,” Hammar said.

He added that the myth about knuckles getting bigger is also false.

While these habits do not usually cause injury, such tendencies can occasionally lead to greater psychological disorders.

Phil Casper, a sophomore from Mesa, Wash., said he occasionally pulls his stray eyebrow hairs.

“The more you pull, the more wishes you get to make,” Casper said. “Plus, it helps with crowd control.”

This habit, in a more advanced stage, is known as the disorder trichotillomania, which causes sufferers to compulsively pull out their hair.

It is thought to affect 1.5 to 3.5 percent of people — more often women — at some point in their lives, according to an article in the Seattle Times.

Putting a stop to these habits before they become a problem may prove to be difficult.

“You cannot eliminate your negative behavior without understanding why you do it to begin with,” said Dr. Phillip C. McGraw in his book Life Strategies: Doing What Works, Doing What Matters.

McGraw said people engage in behaviors to gain some kind of reward and if you want to stop a certain habit, you must stop paying yourself off for doing it.

Visualizing your habit and realizing how you must look to yourself and to other people is another way to halt unwanted behavior, according to an article in Current Health 2.

The article also suggests keeping a record of your habit by checking off the days when it occurs.

Substituting a positive action for the negative one can help, such as chewing gum instead of biting your nails.

Finally, make sure you try to break only one habit at a time and are patient in trying to change your behavior.