For thousands of years, humans have been chewing gum without good taste or clear information. Nutritional benefits.
This practice dates back at least 8,000 years to Scandinavia, where people chewed birch bark pitch to soften it and use it as adhesive for tools. Other ancient cultures, such as the Greeks, Native Americans, and Maya, also chewed the tree’s resin for pleasure and calming effects. National Geographic recently reported.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, William Wrigley Jr. transformed chewing gum from a novelty into a mass consumer habit through relentless and innovative marketing. His brands, including Juicy Fruit and Spearmint, promoted the gum as a way to calm nerves, curb hunger, and stay focused.
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According to Kelly Segrave’s book “American Chewing Gum, 1850-1920: The Rise of the Industry,” a 1916 article read, “Are you worried? Chew some gum.” “Do you lie awake at night? Chew some gum,” it continued. “Are you depressed? Is the world against you? Chew some gum.”
Research in the 1940s found that chewing lowers tone, but they didn’t know why. At the time, the New York Times wrote about the study’s findings: “People who chew gum are more relaxed and able to get more done.”
The gum is early health condition, National Geographic says companies are trying to revive the idea today as gum sales decline.
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But scientists are only now beginning to understand the biology behind these long-held beliefs.
A 2025 review by researchers at the University of Szczecin in Poland found that brain imaging research The purpose of this study was to find out what happens in the brain when people chew gum. Using MRI, EEG, and near-infrared spectroscopy studies, the authors found that chewing altered brain activity in areas associated with movement, attention, and stress regulation.
The findings help explain why seemingly meaningless tasks can be calming and improve focus, even if they’re less palatable.
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The review found that chewing gum not only activated the brain’s motor and sensory networks involved in chewing, but also higher-order regions associated with attention, alertness, and emotional regulation. EEG studies have found short-term changes in brain wave patterns that increase alertness and what researchers call “relaxed concentration.”
Crystal Haskell-Ramsay, a professor of biological psychology at Northumbria University, told National Geographic: “Chewing seems to help improve concentration when you’re doing a fairly boring task for a long time.”
This review also confirms previous findings, including: Chewing gum reduces stress, But only in certain circumstances. In laboratory experiments, people who chewed gum during mildly stressful tasks such as public speaking or mental arithmetic often reported lower anxiety levels than those who did not chew.
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However, chewing gum did not consistently reduce anxiety in high-stress medical situations, such as right before surgery, and had no apparent effect when participants faced unsolvable problems designed to induce frustration.
In multiple studies, researchers also found that people who chewed gum remembered lists of words and stories less well than those who didn’t, and that the increased alertness disappeared as soon as they stopped chewing.
Experts speculate that gum may simply stimulate the desire to fidget.
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“Although these effects are often short-lived, the mixed results… highlight the ability of chewing gum to modulate brain function beyond simple oral motor control,” the researchers wrote.
“However, at this time, the neural changes associated with gum chewing cannot be directly linked to the positive behavioral and functional outcomes observed in the study,” the researchers added.
Future studies should address long-term effects and investigate flavor and stress variables in isolation. potential therapeutic uses, the scientists said.
The results of this study also include caveats that go beyond neuroscience. Sugar-free gum may help reduce cavities, but Fox News Digital says: previously reported Dentists warn that acids, sweeteners and excessive chewing can damage teeth and cause other side effects.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the study authors for comment.
