Chewing Gum Improves Performance And Health
Chewing gum not only reduces anxiety and relieves mild to moderate stress, but it can also make you more alert. Those who chew gum have a tendency to feel more focused and are better at multitasking than those who do not chew gum.
Chewing gum leads to reduced stress and anxiety, and can elevate mood, improve concentration and enhance performance and alertness. Not only does chewing gum stimulate the production of mood elevating hormones, but its also good for the digestive tract. Researchers have found that chewing gum helps patients recover from abdominal surgery, and chewing gum can even provide relief from common ailments like stomachaches.
Trick Or Treat 5 Ways Candy Can Improve Your Mood Brainpower And Health
Posted October 26, 2010
Halloween is the one time a year you can abandon candy guilt and consume a few sweets with pure, childlike enjoyment. To help you dip into the trick-or-treat bag without shame, I present five superpowers of candy. As you crunch your Kit Kat, chew you JuJuBes, and let the M& Ms melt in your mouth, contemplate these benefits of your Halloween treats:
1. People who regularly eat candy live longer than those who don’t. A multi-decade study from the Harvard School of Public Health showed that modest candy consumption is associated with the greatest benefit, but even those with a daily habit lived longer than those who never indulged. This benefit could not be explained by other factors such as age, smoking, exercise, alcohol consumption, or weight.
2. A shot of sugar can restore your willpower. Studies show that consuming sugar makes people perservere longer on difficult task, better able to focus, and more likely to delay gratification. Assuming candy isn’t your biggest willpower challenge, a few pieces of candy corn might keep you on track.
Happy Halloween everyone! Share your favorite treat in the discussion section. Mine: Nerds, and the vastly underrated Smarties–guess I go for the real brain food. 🙂
Studies cited:
1. Lee IM, & Paffenbarger Jr. R.S. . Life is sweet: candy consumption and longevity. British Medical Journal, 317, 9.
A Word Of Caution About Chewing Gum
You may want to try chewing gum to reduce stress and anxiety and increase your performance, alertness, productivity and multitasking skills. However, you may want to exercise some caution when chewing gum. Many sweet, sugary gums contain large amounts of calories and can lead to weight gain if you chew them often. Gum can also contribute to tooth decay.
You can avoid gaining weight from chewing sugary gum by chewing sugar free gum. However, a lot of gum contains aspartame, an artificial sweetener known to cause cancer in lab rats. Aspartame may also be dangerous to human health. Complaints that have been lodged with the FDA state that aspartame has been known to cause headaches, nausea, blurred vision, seizures and convulsions, breathing difficulties, insomnia and many other health issues. Aspartame may be carcinogenic in humans and may be a contributing factor in many gastrointestinal disturbances.
Some gum contains a substance known as vinyl acetate, which is also suspected to be carcinogenic in humans. Avoid gum that contain vinyl acetate.
While chewing gum can be an effective way to relieve stress and be more alert and productive, you should be careful when chewing gum. Chew it sparingly. Avoid sugary gum that can cause tooth decay or weight gain. You can minimize your consumption of sugar and aspartame by chewing the same piece of gum for a longer period of time. Try chewing gum that offers long-lasting flavor, so that you can still enjoy it while chewing fewer pieces.
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Quick Ways To Calm Your Nerves
Heres how you can regain your cool even quicker than you lost it
It is tough to control psychological strain stress is a natural response to tricky situations and the outside world. Some circumstances are simply beyond our control, making coping hard to do. Fortunately, you do have control over how you react to situations. Learning healthy responses to stressors is a great place to start. As compiled from calmclinic.com, Oprah, Prevention and Womens Health magazine, heres how you can regain your cool even quicker than you lost it.Chew a stick of gumBrew black teaTry a tennis ball massageInternational Journal of NeurosciencePut pen to paperAnxiety, Stress & CopingTune in to musicJournal of Advanced NursingTake a tech breakClean the houseLike follow on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.
What You Should Do About Cheek Biting
Occasional accidental cheek biting is a common issue that affects all of us from time to time. However, the other four types of cheek biting require some attention and intervention.
If you suspect cheek biting is a problem, the team at Jefferson Dental and Orthodontics can help. Book an appointment with the office nearest you!
Our Jefferson Dental Content Committee supports our team by educational and informational articles related to what we do, oral care tips, and current events in our communities.
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It Doesnt Have To Be Devoid Of Sugar
Just because those breath mints say sugar-free doesnt mean they dont have sugar anymore. The FDA defines it as any product with not more than 0.5 grams of sugar.Even the natural sweetener called Stevia has some sugar, although its generally low calorie. Worse, some types of sugar may be just as harmful than regular or table sugar.According to a Harvard University article, these artificial ingredients do not have nutritive value. They may also result in the overconsumption of these types of sweeteners, leading to:
- Limited ability to tolerate other types of taste such as those of less-sweet fruits as well as vegetables
- Stronger sugar cravings
- Swapping healthy food with those with lesser nutrition
Theres also the debate on whether aspartame, a popular artificial sweet ingredient, is dangerous or not to health. Some believe it can increase the risk of diseases, including some kinds of cancer.A 2004 research, meanwhile, claimed that the press demonized it for years. One of the growing concerns of it is the amount of sweetness it contains.It can sweeten anything up to 200 times more than regular sugar. Ideally, your body needs only a small amount of it.
In 10 Minutes A Day You Can Change Your Neurology To Become Calmer
Stress and anxiety isn’t just uncomfortable–it can be debilitating. Around 40 million adults in the U.S. alone suffer from anxiety disorders, which are the most common mental illnesses in the country.
Fortunately, anxiety is very treatable. Here are some proven ways to calm down and lighten up:
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The Effects Of Chewing Gum On Exam Preparation
A team of psychologists at St. Lawrence University conducted the following experiment: 224 students were divided into 3 groups
- Chewing gum before and during the test
- Chewing gum only 5 minutes before the exam
- Nothing to chew at all
But what is the explanation for this especially because the first group even chewed during the hole exam?
While the research suggests that only chewing before an exam actually makes a difference some other advice I found is to use this knowledge to give you a brainpower boost even during the exam whenever you need it. Usually, during a test, you do several runs of the questions and leave the tricky ones for last. Before you tackle these a quick 5 minutes chewing gun infusion might restart your thinking engine. I will definitely bring a pack of gums with me next time I sit for an exam. Since it doesnt seem to make things worse it can either help or just provide you with fresh breath during the test. But of course, dont rely on chewing gum as your savior. Read the test centers policies on food during their tests to make sure you are not violating any of their rules.
Stressed Out By Coronavirus Here Are 7 Simple Things You Can Do Right Now To Relax
Does the coronavirus pandemic have you feeling anxious? Unfortunately, that might compound the problem. Stress can weaken the immune system.
How about something thats been proven to reduce stress and help people fight off the cold virus: a big hug. On second thought, maybe not.
Exercise can reduce stress. Of course, no gyms or yoga studio are still open.
But there are a bunch of other ways to ease your worries that are cheap, relatively easy and still allow you to maintain your social distance. Here are seven of our favorites:
Chew gum
A surprising number of studies have shown that chewing gum reduces anxiety. For example, researchers in Japan found that test subjects asked to chew mint-flavored gum twice a day for 14 days reported lower levels of anxiety and mental fatigue compared with a control group that got just a mint.
In the words of the American Institute of Stress: There is little doubt that chewing gum can be a powerful stress buster. One has only to look at a tightly contested baseball game on TV to see how many players, coaches and managers are vigorously chewing bubble gum or something else to relieve their pent-up tension.
Say amen
Feeling lonely because youre forced to work at home or need to practice social distancing? Try talking to God.
Shane Sharp, a Northern Illinois University sociologist who has studied prayer, said many people are able to manage negative emotions through prayer.
Give thanks
Ground yourself
Yuk it up
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New Research Finds Chewing Gum May Help Reduce Stress
Study to be presented at the 2008 10th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
WHAT: “An investigation into the effects of gum chewing on mood and cortisol levels during psychological stress,” to be presented at the 2008 10th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine, found that chewing gum helped relieve anxiety, improve alertness and reduce stress among individuals in a laboratory setting.* The study examined whether chewing gum is capable of reducing induced anxiety and/or acute psychological stress while participants performed a battery of ‘multi-tasking’ activities. The use of chewing gum was associated with higher alertness, reduced anxiety and stress, and improvement in overall performance on multi-tasking activities.
WHO: Andrew Scholey, Ph.D., professor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia led the research study and can discuss the effect of chewing gum on stress relief and focus and concentration.
Gilbert Leveille, Ph.D., executive director, Wrigley Science Institute, will also be available to discuss research on the benefits of chewing gum related to stress relief and alertness and concentration in addition to other areas including weight management and oral health.
WHEN: Study to be presented orally on Saturday, August 30 at Rissho University in Tokyo, Japan at the 10th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine.
STUDY BACKGROUND:
WRIGLEY SCIENCE INSTITUTE:
How Chewing Gum Can Help Relieve Stress And Anxiety
Modern life can feel like a minefield of stress and anxiety.
In the digital age, these feelings are never more than just a few clicks away.
The American Psychological Association recently declared high levels of stress and anxiety a national health crisis.
In these uncertain times, its important to remember we are bigger than our feelings!
Strategies such as regular exercise and meditation can be potent defenders of your happiness and well-being.
But theres also another proven way to stay calm and collected that most people are unaware of chewing gum.
Its true.
Chewing gum is scientifically-proven to reduce chronic stress.
The benefits of long-term chewing on stress reduction suggests that it may be a simple, cost effective method of reducing stress and improving quality of life and well-being, write the authors of a review published in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Research.
Humans have suspected gums therapeutic and medicinal powers for thousands of years.
Archaeologists recently discovered a 6,000-year-old wad of gum made from birch tar along the southern coast of Denmark. DNA testing on the gum revealed the chewer was likely a female hunter-gatherer with dark hair and blue eyes.
Why was our neolithic ancestor chewing gum?
Scientists believe it may have helped early humans relieve pain, stave off hunger and improve oral health .
The results?
The act of gum chewing has convincing health benefits.
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Think About It Twice Before Banning Gum From Your Safety Kit
Australian and English researchers asked themselves if chewing gum could reduce stress. They asked 40 participants about twenty years old to complete a stressful task that included a series of memory, calculation, inhibition and surveillance tasks. These tasks all needed to be completed at the same time on a computer. Participants completed these tasks with or without chewing gum. Researchers noticed an increased vigilance, a lower level of anxiety, a decrease in the experience of stress and a lower elevation of cortisol levels when the participants were chewing gum. Chewers performance at the task was also increased. The mechanisms of this association still needs to be further understood.
Title: Chewing gum alleviates negative mood and reduces cortisol during acute laboratory psychological stress.
Andre Scholey, Crystal Haskell, Bernadette Robertson, David Kennedy, Anthea Milne, Mark Wetherell.
Journal: Physiology and Behavior vol. 97 pp. 304-312
Bubble Gum And Brain Power The Takeaway
Humans have been finding things to chew on for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks and Mayans chewed on tree resin, while the first chewing gum was made in the 1800s from a type of rubber known as chicle . While todays gum tastes a lot better, the ancient Greeks and Mayans may have been on to something studies suggest the ancient chewers may have felt less stress than their non-gum-chewing counterparts Effect of regular chewing gum on levels of anxiety, mood, and fatigue in healthy young adults. Sasaki-Otomaru, A., Sakuma, Y., Mochizuki, Y., et al. Department of Fundamental Nursing and Life Support, Division of Comprehensive Health Nursing Sciences, Graduate School of Health Care Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health: CP & EMH, 2011 7:133-9. Epub 2011 Aug 5. .
Just be sure to stick with sugar-free gum, which contains fewer calories and sugar. Sugar-free gum has been shown to help clean teeth and reduce cavities, as well as improve bad breath
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Chewing Gum May Boost Your Memory Reduce Stress And More
Ever feel guilty about your gum addiction? Don’t. A simple piece of gum can wield more power than you think. While your teachers may have reprimanded you time after time to spit out your gum, they should have been more encouraging of it. Chewing gum can help boost your memory, reduce stress, and help wake you up. Why are teachers so against an innocent piece of gum again?
Gum Can Make You Smarter Reports suggest that chewing gum can enhance memory performance. While the exact reasoning is unknown, the reasons may involve glucose delivery and arousal mechanism . Next time you need to perk your memory powers or concentration powers, try popping a piece of gum.
Stress Reducer Chewing gum during stressful times has been found to help alertness, reduce anxiety, and reduce stress and salivary cortisol levels. If you are feeling stressed, a piece of gum can help soothe your nerves and give your mouth something to do. The methodical act of slowly chewing gum can help you concentrate on your tasks and keep a level head. Another good thing about chewing gum in a stressful situation is that you are less likely to reach for a pint of ice cream to calm your stress levels.
Wakes You Up Another study found that chewing gum can help reduce the extent of sleepiness. The reduction in the daytime sleepiness while chewing gum might be contributed to an increased cerebral activity that comes from chewing gum or the fact that a mint flavor is especially arousing to the senses.