We’ve all had those days where we are just overwhelmed with anxiety. We fidget, bounce our legs, bite our nails, bite our lips… anything to expel that nervous energy we have pent up inside.
One of those anxiety-induced habits, lip biting, has the potential of being the most damaging, as it can leave your lips bloody, swollen, sore, raw, and so many other things you wouldn’t want to subject your lips to.
What Is Anxiety?
Anxiety is the body’s response to stressful situations. It is characterized by feelings of nervousness, restlessness, and intense (possibly excessive and persistent) worry and fear about situations that are happening in your life.
Anxiety is an absolutely normal thing to have, and is not inherently a bad thing if it does not severely interfere or impact your quality of life. It’s only when your symptoms hinder you from completing your everyday tasks as normal should you consider seeking help to understand more about your anxiety.
What Is Lip Biting?
Lip biting (not in the thirst trap sense) is a habit of repeatedly chewing and biting on your lip. Constant lip biting is an example of what is called a body-focused repetitive behavior, also known as BFRB. Lip biting keratosis is one of many BFRBs that exist as a coping mechanism for uncomfortable or anxiety-inducing situations, and it can be very damaging to the skin on and around your lips.
How Are Lip Biting And Anxiety Connected?
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Lip biting, as mentioned, is a self-soothing and self-comforting technique. Self-soothing and comforting is typically needed when one is in a stressful situation filled with anxiety. That anxiety that a person feels will trigger a BFRB in an attempt to calm the body down and get rid of any nervous energy that someone is feeling.
Severe lip biting can lead to formation of fibromas, TMJ, and teeth alignment issues; this is on top of the other symptoms of bloodiness, swelling, soreness, and rawness. Though, we are going to mainly be focusing on the possible damage to the skin of and around your lips caused by anxiety.
Why Is Anxious Lip Biting Bad?
Basically, lip biting is bad because it is really painful and damaging to your skin. Of all nervous habits, this can be the most harmful to your skin. The repeated and continued trauma to your lips can cause irritation to your oral tissues and leaves them susceptible to sores, ulcers, and infection.
A little note: lip biting itself is a bad thing as it can hurt you, but never ever should you feel bad for your anxiety. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, nor anything you should feel like you have to hide. If at all possible, consult trusted friends, family, doctors, or anyone else you see that can help you if you are overwhelmed by your anxieties.
There are also alternatives you can do if you want to break the habit of lip biting and ease your anxiety. Some of these include a stress ball, fidget toy, or meditation. Some long-term, bigger solutions and/or lifestyle changes to address anxiety could be incorporating exercise, therapy, or medication.
Products To Remedy Anxious Lip Biting
If you bite your lips and want to kick the habit, as well as use products to get them healed and nourished, it’s a good idea to seek products that help out. Using various products tailored to lip restoration, protection, and moisture will do wonders to remedy any damage done to your lips.
What do you do for your anxious lip biting? Any tips to share? Leave them in the comments.
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