14 Things you didn’t know about your nails

Typing can make your nails grow faster

Since nail growth depends a lot on healthy blood circulation, repeated tapping movements, like typing, can stimulate growth. You can also massage your fingers (especially the cuticle area) to promote healthy nail growth.

Amazing nail growth facts

On average, fingernails grow 1/3 of a centimetre every month.The nails on your dominant hand grow slightly faster than the nails on your other hand.Toenails grow about 1/6 of a centimetre every month, and they’re twice as thick as fingernails.It takes a fingernail 4-6 months to grow out completely.Your big toe takes 12-18 months to grow out.All nails grow a little faster in summer than in winter.Your middle finger grows the fastest and your thumbs the slowest.Lack of sleep and stress both negatively affect nail growth.

Dermatological disasters

Around one tenth of dermatological conditions are nail related. About half of those are due to fungal infections, which mostly occur on the toenails.

On the fingernails, common conditions are white spots (which are not due to any vitamin or mineral deficiency, but most likely an earlier injury to the nail bed), nail ridges (vertical is usually just a sign of ageing, where horizontal can possibly indicate disease) and bacterial infections.

Keratin

Your nails (and your hair) are made up of keratin – which is why you’ll always see supplements for both hair and nails. Since there are a whole lot of vital organs in line before your nails, you’ll need to maintain a really healthy diet in order to see the benefits on your fingertips.

What the heck are cuticles?

You shouldn’t remove every bit of cuticle you see – they’re there for a reason. Cuticles seal in moisture and keep out bacteria and other harmful agents. If you cut them away, you’re at risk of infecting the skin on top of everything else.

Genetics

The hardness of your nails is mostly genetic. You can maintain a good diet, add some supplements and use nail hardening products to some effect, but there’s only so much you can do if you didn’t hit the gene pool jackpot.

Nails are a window to your overall health

A doctor or dermatologist can get many indications about your overall health just by looking at your nails. Conditions like psoriasis, anemia, thyroid conditions, lung disease, liver disease, arthritis and melanoma are among those that have telltale signs on the nails.