Five Benefits of Chewing Gum That Will Shock You

You may already know that chewing gum freshens your breath, but there are a number of other advantages that you can get from munching on a small stick.
Combats Nausea
herbal gums can help you if you are prone to morning or motion sickness? The ginger elements and extra saliva production works to aid digestion and stomach irritability.
In a recent study, women who felt sick after surgery received either a stick of Wrigley’s peppermint gum or the anti-nausea drug ondansetron while recovering. Surprisingly, the gum was more effective–75 percent with gum said it fully resolved their problem within 10 minutes while only 37 percent of the drug group ever experienced relief.
Doctors note that chewing gum is frequently prescribed by colorectal surgeons to help patients stimulate their digestive system after major bowel surgery.
Helps Your Bowel Movement
Are you feeling constipated lately? Drop the laxatives and try out the more natural and inexpensive gum remedy first. Chewing gum has been proven to stimulate bowel movements by increasing the production of gastric juices without having to digest any food.
According to a PubMed study, this can also help prevent the problems many people have when they start eating or drinking too soon after surgery.
Improves Memory
If you find out that your memory is failing you of late, the solution to your problem could lie in chewing a stick of gum. A recent study conducted by a team of psychologists at St. Lawrence University, found that cognitive function and overall test performance were significantly improved when subjects were chomping on gum.
It is believed that this valuable mental boost derives from the observed increase of heart rate and blood flow. The medical results proved that the changes was as a result of T: Brain activity in the hippocampus, an area important for concentration and reaction times.
The activity in the hippocampus was significantly sparked and delivery of oxygen to the brain was increased by as much as 25 to 40 percent when test subjects chewed gum.
It Can Help To Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Are you the type of person that feels better biting your nails and shaking your legs when you’re nervous? The same concept may apply when you chew gum as it can serve as a good substitute for instinctual nervous habits.
A study conducted in 2011 found that participants who chewed gum twice a day for 14 days rated their anxiety significantly less than the non-chewers. Those that chewed gum also reported higher moods and lower fatigue levels.
The study showed that gum chewing can significantly reduce the stress hormone cortisol because the simple act of chewing is calming for most people.
Chewing Can Help You lose Weight
If you are one of those people that can’t control what they eat, popping in some gum over that bag of chips may be of benefit to your weight-loss regimen. It not only reduces your calorie count, and the gum may start to act as a “signal” over time that you don’t need to eat anymore.
This can be effective in making you curb your cravings and also consume less. Medical studies show that the biggest benefit comes from those who reach for a stick of gum instead of reaching snacks between meals.
Research from the University of Rhode Island showed that people who chewed gum ended up swallowing 67 percent fewer calories at lunchtime than non-gum chewers; showing that the mindless nibbling can help suppress appetite.