
Fewer Allergies: A Possible Upside of Thumb Sucking and Nail Biting - dpflan
http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/upside-thumb-sucking-nail-biting-2016071910032
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jobu
_This fits with the “hygiene hypothesis,” which says that when children are
exposed to germs early in life, their immune system gets trained to attack
germs, rather than attacking itself as we see in allergies, asthma, and
eczema_

It would be interesting to see an allergy study on kids raised in their own
home vs those that grew up in a group childcare setting. Speaking from
experience as a parent, those places are like petri dishes for vile diseases.
It seems like that would be a much more thorough exposure to disease than
playing in the dirt and sucking a thumb.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I'd also be curious about children who grow up in rural, suburban and urban
areas.

I live in New York, I often forget to wash my hands when I come home from
riding the subway and start hugging my kid one of whose favorite games is
"chew on dad". I'm trying to balance out the fear of her catching some exotic
imported disease with the hope that her immune system is getting used to
handling a variety of invaders.

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archon810
My 3.5-year-old son sucks his thumb. His thumb looks weird, it's a bit more
flat, but that's not the biggest issue. The biggest issue is his sucking has
pushed his front tooth on that side out. It now looks crooked, and he's making
it worse every day. That's the danger of thumb sucking IMO.

~~~
dpflan
The article focuses on this issue when thumb-sucking begins to affect
secondary teeth, as hammock and the article point out it becomes an issue when
the behavior is retained with secondary teeth. 3.5 years seems like he's
reaching the threshold for when to ween.

"There can be downsides to thumb sucking, as it can lead to problems from
pushing secondary teeth as they come in. But those don’t come in until later,
when children are in elementary school. Most children stop sucking their thumb
by themselves before they get to elementary school. The American Dental
Association recommends that parents start encouraging their children to stop
sucking their thumb after age 4 — but even then, they advocate a gentle,
positive approach. Many children suck to relieve anxiety, and making them
anxious about sucking can backfire! Instead, praise children for not doing it
— and help them find other ways of soothing themselves. Putting a Band-Aid on
the thumb can help them remember; at night, using a sock or something similar
can help with the child who sucks their thumb without realizing it. But again,
this is only an issue for older children."

~~~
scoot
> The article focuses on this issue when thumb-sucking begins to affect
> secondary teeth

Which ignores that fact that crooked teeth in young children can impact speech
development.

~~~
spartanatreyu
It can also create breathing problems like snoring in later life

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howlingfantods
Anecdotally, I grew up in the Chinese countryside, spelunking through mud at
the local pond to catch frogs for dinner and bathing maybe twice a week. It
was only when I moved to the US, land of hand sanitizers and abundant soap,
that I suddenly developed a mild allergy to pollen.

~~~
chestervonwinch
Anecdotally, I grew up in the land of hand sanitizers and abundant soap,
playing in mud, weeding the garden, and catching bugs. I had allergy shots
until my teens, and I often still feel like I have a permanent minor cold,
which gets better or worse, depending on what's blooming. Moving from Michigan
to north Florida seems to have made it worse.

~~~
brewdad
Same as you, I grew up in MI. Moved to Phoenix and my allergies cleared up.
About 5 years later, I had seasonal allergies again and they seemed to be
worse than ever.

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zuminator
I've heard that mobile phones are filthier than toilet seats, and plenty of
young children have them these days. I've seen babies too young to walk or
talk given electronic tablets to distract themselves with. I wonder if the
trend toward youngsters interacting with electronic devices that are rarely if
ever kept sanitary will help keep allergies at bay?

~~~
visarga
> electronic devices that are rarely if ever kept sanitary

I think electronics can be coated with an antibacterial film to prevent
infections.

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Raphmedia
And don't forget snot eating!

~~~
ridgeguy
You beat me to it!

Nasal secretions should be good sources of airborne pathogens. Different
pathogen profile from fingernails, etc. Wider challenges for a developing
immune system.

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dpflan
I wonder what exposure is necessary to boost the immune system's handling of
specific allergens. Are there immune-boosting workshops where children are
exposed to allergens of all kinds (perhaps gradually increasing the exposure)?
What is the economic impact of having a strong immune system vs weak immune
system?

~~~
throwanem
> Are there immune-boosting workshops where children are exposed to allergens
> of all kinds (perhaps gradually increasing the exposure)?

Yes. They're called "the outside world", and hard as this is to believe, you
can sometimes even find your child a spot in one free of charge!

~~~
dpflan
Heh, this is true, definitely the cheapest and probably the most fun for the
children. But, what about a process that takes less time and can introduce
allergens from around the world?

~~~
throwanem
Well, of course, may a merciful God forfend we allow children to _waste time_.
Gotta make sure Junior's up to the admission process for a top-tier pre-K,
after all.

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Sephiroth87
Mhm, my immune system might not have gotten the memo then...

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Broken_Hippo
Some folks just have allergies - genetic predisposition, perhaps. It isn't
that allergies were unknown before the 'modern' world, simply less common than
they are now.

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Ftuuky
I recently discovered I'm allergic to weed. No nail biting prepared me for
this.

~~~
Zhenya
Do your eyes get red and your mouth very dry? Try eating something tasty.

~~~
Ftuuky
Nope, both hash and weed makes me high and it's all cool and whatnot but after
smoking weed my nose gets blocked for hours, can't breathe properly. I don't
understand why weed does that and hash doesn't but it's what it is. Maybe it's
the fertilizers used for growing weed (I was buying the high end stuff,
hydroponic, etc) while hash is grown in Morocco without adding any fancy stuff
but I'm not sure. I've decided to not smoke anything at all.

