Back in 3rd grade, when Mrs. Greenstein caught us chewing gum, she made us deposit in the trash. Then we had to write, “I will not chew gum in class,” on the board while everyone else enjoyed recess.
Today, that message might very well be, “Chewing gum relieves stress.” At least that’s what a team of Japanese researchers found. They got 14 healthy volunteers to do math problems for 30 minutes, then chew gum for intervals ranging from 0 minutes to 15. They measured their cortisol levels and took saliva samples before, during and after the math problems and gum chewing exercise.
They found “that continuous chewing for more than 10 min is effective in reducing stress.”
The study, published in the Journal of Prosthodontic Research, is not the only one to find a relationship between gum chewing and stress reduction. But because the Wrigley Science Foundation, of Wrigley gum company fame, funded the research, it didn’t get the broad attention it might have otherwise. However, in each of the three Wrigley-funded studies, researchers found reductions in stress and an elevation in mood.
Published in the journal, Appetite, “The results showed that chewing gum reduced stress (both at work and outside work), reduced fatigue, reduced anxiety and depression and led to a more positive mood. Chewing gum was also associated with perceptions of better performance (both at work and outside).”
Before you take up gum-chewing, you should know that the Japanese study used a flavorless and apparently sugarless gum. It definitely wasn’t bubble gum.
And no one seems to have done a study on what the boss would say if she suddenly discovered an entire department had taken up gum chewing.