Alex Ferguson is renowned for the voracity with which he chews gum during football matches. To many this is seen as a rather annoying and unsightly habit he has. New research however suggests that the act of chewing gum can in fact improve our cognitive performance.
The researchers gave participants a raft of quite tough mental tasks to complete. Half of the participants chewed gum whilst attempting the tasks, with the remaining half flying solo. Amazingly the gum chewers beat the others in five out of the six tasks assigned them. The only one they lost was a verbal fluency test, which is perhaps not surprising given that chewing gum is not known to help our verbal dexterity.
All of which is pretty incredible. So how long does this mental performance boost last? It would appear to be a short lived boost. The research revealed that chewing gum provided a filip to our mental agility for just 20 minutes, after which performance fell back to that of the non-gum control group.
The researchers suggested that this performance enhancement was due to mastication-induced arousal, which basically means that the act of chewing wakes us up and ensures we're alert and focused on the task at hand. As the impact is only short lived however it probably pays to save your gum until you really need it.
This latest piece of research adds to an ever growing collection of research into the positive effects of chewing gum. For instance earlier this year a team from Coventry University found that those chewing gum reported a huge reduction in sleepiness. Not only did they feel less tired but they looked less tired. It's like a shot of coffee but without the jitters that accompany it.
Another piece of research into the power of gum was conducted at Cardiff University. Again it was research into the brain enhancing power of chewing gum. This time however half of the participants had to do their tasks in a stressed environment whereby a screeching noise was blaring out at them. Still the gum chewers came out on top. They were found to be more attentive with higher heart rates and reaction times. Heck, they even appeared happier.
So maybe it's understandable that Sir Alex chews quite so avidly on the sideline at Old Trafford, for it would appear to be giving him a significant mental boost at the same time. What these pieces of research shows is that if you want to do well in difficult tasks, chewing some gum can give you a real helping hand. So if your boss or teacher complains about you chewing gum in future, you have this ammunition to support your chomping.
That is interesting, but I can't help but find it a vulgar habit and have no desire to start chomping away, even if it does make me smarter!
Hmm, wonder if chewing other things would produce the same results?
That could well be the case Nick. It'd certainly be interesting to see any studies investigating that sort of thing. Do you know of any?
I've read a few things talking about the beneficial impact that chewing has in rodents. There have also been a few suggesting that chewing increases neurogenesis in human adults. Most of this research seems to come from Asia where it seems to be much more a part of their culture than it is in the west.
Interesting, thanks Wayne.
Interesting stuff indeed Wayne, thanks for sharing that.
That is interesting. I wonder if the effect wears off after 20 minutes because by that time the gum tastes pretty awful and the texture is no longer the same?
Hmm, you know I'm not sure. I'm inclined to think it's the act of chewing itself that makes the difference rather than the taste. The first experiment used sugared chewing gum and un-sugared and it didn't make any difference to the outcome, which suggests flavour isn't really a factor.
Whilst not really that new, this should have all manner of implications. For instance if you're feeling drowsy behind the wheel of your car or something, simply chewing gum could help to perk you up and make you more alert.
Horrible habit and I certainly want to encourage it in my company.