1 Calcium and vitamin D intake. 2  A diet low in calcium and vitamin D makes you more prone to bone loss. 3  Medication use. 4  Some medicines increase the risk of osteoporosis. 5  Activity level. 6  Lack of exercise or long-term bed rest can cause weak bones. 7  Smoking.
Signs and Symptoms. 1  Nail splitting affects the fingernails and the toenails. The condition may appear as a single horizontal split between layers of the nail plate at the growing end or as multiple splits and loosening of the growing edge of the nail plate.
Clear polish can prevent nails from splitting. Photo Credit macro manicure image by LadyInBlack from Fotolia.com. Brittle nails, characterized by nails that split or peel into layers, affect as much as 20 percent of the population, according to a report by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.sing your fingernails as tools for scraping and prying will also cause nail injuries, and nails can break and split during normal everyday activities. Keeping your nails trimmed short and filing them with an emery board into a rounded shape can prevent the splitting and peeling from getting worse.