Chewing Gum Helps With Anxiety, According to MD

In reality, this isn’t the primary time we’re listening to in regards to the correlation between what we eat (or chew) and its impression on our neurological system. We not too long ago chatted with board-certified psychiatrist and ADHD medical specialist, Sasha Hamdani, MD, who revealed that spicy, crunchy, bitter meals (what she calls “sensory snacks”) can activate mind receptors and enhance focus. Is gum no totally different? It is a bit sticky.

Forward, we delve into the science-backed the reason why chewing gum can assist scale back pressure and anxiousness in some people.

How chewing gum can assist gnaw away at anxiousness and stress

Based on Dr. Girgis, a examine on the impact of chewing gum on stress levels confirmed that mastication—chewing—will increase the blood oxygen ranges within the prefrontal cortex (usually deemed the “personality center” as a result of it is the place we course of moment-to-moment enter from our environment, evaluate that enter to previous experiences, after which react to them) and the hippocampus (space of the mind largely responsible for learning and memory and managing stress hormones).

“Taking the main target off something that may activate our fight-or-flight nervous system is an efficient factor. By chewing gum, your consideration is extra on the bodily and fewer on the psychological points of what you could be experiencing.”
—Raafat W. Girgis, MD, triple board-certified psychiatrist

So, what does this imply by way of stress and anxiousness? For starters, analysis reveals that publicity to persistent stress can impair prefrontal cognitive abilities and have an effect on the construction of dendrites, that are answerable for receiving and carrying signals in brain neurons. However information and memory processing are only a few of the ways in which stress can impression the hippocampus. Nonetheless, research reveal that increased cerebral blood flow—one of many advantages of (gum) chewing—can enhance cognitive exercise.

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As such, Dr. Girgis notes that chewing gum might be an efficient self-soothing methodology as a result of it could actually promote stress discount. “There are numerous neural circuits connecting our masticatory organs to the mind, and chewing gum will stimulate the perform of those areas,” Dr. Girgis says. Therefore why gum chewing can assist redirect consideration, particularly when stress or anxiousness ranges start to peak. “Taking the main target off something that may activate our fight-or-flight nervous system is an efficient factor. By chewing gum, your consideration is extra on the bodily and fewer on the psychological points of what you could be experiencing.”

Suggestions for an efficient gum-chewing session

When it comes to the perfect gum taste or model to decide on, Dr. Girgis says something goes. Large Purple, Juicy Fruit, Hubba Bubba, you title it. “Taste is a private alternative; nevertheless there are discussions and analysis that can supply solutions. [Although], it’s actually as much as the person and what’s most pleasing to them,” he says. Now, in relation to how lengthy you need to be chewing gum, the psychiatrist says that the candy spot is round 20 minutes or so. “It’s mentioned that within the first 15 to twenty minutes you’ll discover a distinction, whereas different research have discovered advantages throughout solely the primary 15 to twenty minutes of chewing gum,” he says.

It’s essential to remember the fact that chewing gum over an extended interval can diminish its taste and chewiness. As such, Dr. Girgis recommends swapping in a brand new piece each half hour, as wanted. In the meantime, he notes that chewing gum earlier than partaking in an exercise that’s recognized to emphasize you out, may assist calm your nerves forward of time. The excellent news? Chewing gum is one thing that may be achieved discreetly wherever at any time (no less than for essentially the most half!).

What are you able to do if you happen to can’t chew gum?

If you end up able the place you may’t or just don’t wish to chew gum, Dr. Girgis recommends discovering different techniques for managing stress. Within the case that chewing isn’t concerned, he says utilizing a rubber band on the wrist can assist do the trick. Based on a recent video by Alan Mandell, DC, higher generally known as @motivationaldoc on TikTok, gently tugging on the rubber band and letting it calmly snap in your wrist can assist redirect signs of a panic assault and practice the mind to subconsciously begin avoiding the stimulus—though it’s essential to notice that this could by no means be used as a technique of self hurt.

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