It was a hot and sultry Sunday afternoon.
Sprawled lazily on the couch, I was scrolling through Instagram reels, when a particular video caught my attention; a suave looking gentleman elucidating the advantages of chewing gum. Having grown up in a culture, where chewing gum is usually associated with negative connotations such as being ‘brazen’ and ‘rebellious’ in most traditional circles, this particular perspective felt contradictory.
I sat up straight and replayed the reel.
“Anxiety, of course, is a survival instinct. We need it to help protect us from physical threats. So, you don't cure anxiety, you help align it so that it behaves itself and works for you only when it really needs to. Anything we do that sends the message to the fear instinct that we're not currently facing a present and immediate threat will cause the fear instinct to back down. One of the first things to switch off when your flight or fight mode response kicks in is salivation because you don't need to be eating if you're trying not to be eaten. If you're in a tricky situation & you chew gum, the gum makes you salivate, & all the other symptoms of fear get reduced as well.”
Pretty impressive, right?
Well, we all have learnt that we should not take everything we hear over the internet at face value, however logical it may sound. So, the first question that came to my mind after listening to this gentleman was...
Turns out, the gentleman, Mark Tyrrell, is a renowned psychologist and hypnotherapist in the UK and the co-founder of an online psychology training company, ‘Uncommon Knowledge’.
Why is this topic important to explore?
We are a generation living in chaos.
A recent publication in the Harvard Business Review studied mental health in the workplace and the results paint a bleak picture of anxiety among today’s youth. Almost half of millennials, those between 24 and 39, said they'd left a job at least partly for mental health reasons. For Gen-Z (those between 18 and 23) the percentage spikes to 75.
The results of the study are one measure of how serious anxiety and depression have become among the youth of today as compared to the previous generations.
So, how does chewing gum make an entry into this discussion?
This might come as a surprise; people have been chewing gum for over 9,000 years. It has been an essential component of human daily routines for centuries, dating back to the usage of chicle, a material from the sapodilla tree, by the ancient Mayan tribes and Wrigley and Fleer's usage of bubble gum. There has always been a discussion to support the benefits of chewing gum to oral hygiene i.e., inhibition of extrinsic tooth stains and calculus formation to its ability to clear food debris. But the revelations of its impact on mental health have been a very contemporary.
Recently, a Taylor Swift fan posted a Tik-tok questioning whether the pop star had always chewed gum during her performances. While this may seem insignificant, chewing gum (or pretending to chew) can serve as a confidence booster and while Taylor Swift might not be an average 9-5 corporate employee, studies show that this habit improves performance at workplace by limiting the brain’s reaction to external distractions.
Users on Reddit have also shared how chewing gum, or pretending to chew gum, has helped their confidence levels, anxiety and helped them through awkward social situations.
So, how does this work? What is the science behind this?
Researchers in the Cardiff University in Wales sought answers regarding the link between chewing gum and improved cognitive performance. Their results, published in ‘Nutritional Neuroscience’ indicates that chewing gum reduces perceived stress in high pressure situations and improves the overall mood of individuals.
So, all in all, the less stressed and anxious we are, the lower would be our body’s cortisol levels making us more productive and efficient.
The positive effects of chewing gum can be attributed to something called as mastication induced arousal and increasing of Beta Power. Chewing boosts oxygen levels in the brain, especially in areas related to attention and alertness which subsequently enhances focus and mental clarity.
Adding to this, enhanced oral habits have been linked to increase in self-esteem, which plays a significant role in our total self-image. Positive habits promote a more self-assured version of us because of these actions, which form a positive feedback loop.
Now, what is this Beta Power? Why does one need to increase it? And more importantly, does it turn an individual into a giant green raging beast with super strength and a proclivity to smash?
Unfortunately, no.
But even though increasing your Beta Power might not change you into the Incredible Hulk, it plays a crucial role in the human mind being associated with centers of logic, critical thinking, awareness, and focus.
All our thoughts, behaviors and emotions are governed by the interaction between neurons in our brains. They communicate through electrical pulses or brainwaves like different levels of musical notes creating a symphony within the brain. The notes change according to what we are doing and feeling i.e., slower brainwaves are dominant when we are tired, sleepy, or sluggish. Similarly, faster brainwaves are dominant when we are active and alert.
When our attention is focused on cognitive processes, beta brainwaves rule our typical waking state of awareness. Beta is a "fast" activity that occurs when we are aware, concentrating, thinking critically, making decisions, or solving problems. Chewing gum increases the Beta power of the brain positively affecting several different indicators of alertness and vigilance.
Lastly you might be thinking, if salivation is the end goal of this whole exercise, why limit oneself to only gum?
Meet my puppy, Hela.
She chews anything and everything that comes her way. Slippers, bedsheets, empty bottles, stationaries, you name a thing, and she would have chewed it. But she gets away with it because she is cute.
So, unless you have a great set of puppy eyes, my advice is to stick to more socially acceptable stuff to chew such as toffees and gums.
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." - Thoreau, Henry David
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