"Functional Assesment of Biting my nails"

I have a nervous habit of biting my nails. I bite my nails when I'm bored, but I also bite my nails before I compete in a swim meet. I bite my nails when I am bored to think of other things; and I bite my nails before a swim meet to clear my head and think about what I have to do in the pool. I know that I do not need to bite my nails to think about what I will do during the race, but biting my nails has become part of my routine before competing that it would hurt my concentration if i quit.

One big difference between my habit and smoking is that biting my nails is not harmful to my health. But another difference is that smoking actually releases chemicals into the brain, but biting my nails does not. A similarity between the habits is that biting my nails, like smoking, helps relieve any stress I have before a meet. And much like smoking, biting my nails has become so ingrained in my routine that quitting would disrupt my functioning. It is repeating cycle of behavior that I do not have the motivation to stop, just like many smokers are not motivated to quit because it would disturb ingrained habits.