Though our mums tried to stop us from picking up
this habit, many of us can’t stop chewing gums when we are bored.
While many perceive chewing gum as a habit that
depicts promiscuity, recklessness and disobedience, chewing gum is a common
habit that many people cannot resist. Those in this category believe that it
helps them to stay awake during long meetings, just as it freshen their breath.
The jury is still out on the rights and wrongs of
chewing this popular candy.
However, new studies suggest that chewing gums
may not be so bad, after all, for adults.
If you are in the habit of popping gum in your
mouth after a meal or when you are bored, then you may be glad to know that the
health benefits of chewing gum goes beyond keeping you awake when you are
reading, writing or working.
Scientists say that chewing gum helps you to
learn. Psychologists from the University of Northumbria, United Kingdom, found
that people who chewed gum throughout produced significantly better scores than
people those who did not.
The lead author of the study, Andrew Scholey,
states that the gum-chewers’ scores were 24 per cent higher than those that did
not on tests of immediate word recall, and 36 per cent higher on tests of
delayed word recall.
They were also more accurate on tests of spatial
working memory.
He says, “These results provide the first
evidence that chewing gum can improve long-term and working memory. There are a
number of potential explanations – but they are all very speculative.”
Still on how chewing gum boosts one’s ability to
retain information, in March 2000, Japanese researchers showed that brain
activity in the hippocampus, an area important for memory, increases while
people chew.
Scholey adds, “One interesting thing we saw in
our study was that chewing increased heart rate. Anything that improves
delivery of things like oxygen in the brain, such as an increased heart rate,
is a potential cognitive enhancer to some degree.”
The scientists recommend that people should chew
gum while multi-tasking or preparing for a big day to relieve stress and
tension.
A research conducted on students who chew gum
during exams shows that they tend to be more alert and focused.
A 40-person study of gum chewers showed a
reduction in anxiety as compared to non-gum chewers by nearly 17 per cent
during mild stress and nearly 10 per cent in moderate stress.
Also, participants experienced greater levels of
alertness when they chewed gum.
Gum chewers showed improvement in alertness over
non-gum chewers by nearly 19 per cent during mild stress and eight per cent in
moderate stress.
So, whenever you feel irritated or frustrated,
you might find that chewing gum can help you to relax.
If you are currently trying to lose weight,
chewing gum can also prove to be beneficial for you.
Nutritionists have maintained over the years that
chewing gum curbs appetites and food cravings. So, the next time you crave a
snack or a second helping of fried rice and chicken, pop a stick of gum in your
mouth instead.
Contrary to what we were told and taught, chewing
gum only causes does tooth aches or gum diseases when it is loaded with sugar.
A dentist, Dr. Chuks Madueke, says if one is
suffering from oral health problems like halitosis (bad breath) or gum
infection, one might want to chew some gum to relieve these symptoms.
He says, “When you chew gum, your saliva
production is also stimulated. Saliva has antibacterial properties that help to
flush out food debris, remaining sugars and other harmful acids in your mouth.
“We will recommend that the gum is sugar-free, as
it has been found to be effective in protecting the enamel of the teeth. In
fact, chewing on some sugar-free gum after meals can lessen tooth cavities.”
Adolescents may want to take it easy on chewing
gum. Experts have fingered chewing gum as a cause of migraine in teenagers.
The findings published in Paediatrics
Neurology showed that 26 out of 30 patients with migraine, who stopped
chewing gum had significant improvement, and 19 had complete headache
resolution. When 20 of the improved patients stopped chewing gum again, all of
them reported an immediate relapse of symptoms.
Source: punchng
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