> However, the mechanisms linking cerebral blood flow increase to metabolic changes in the brain affecting cognition remain unclear.
Stanford research published after that article provides that answer: Face shape. It's not just better cognitive performance but the alternative contributes to face shape commonly perceived as "not beautiful".
The Stanford research, and no I don't have a link, concludes there are two activities responsible for these traits: slurping soft foods and mouth breathing. The alternative to chewing hard foods is slurping soft foods and the frequent activity of slurping alters the shape of a person's face as they grow because humans were really only designed to consistently slurp soft foods in infancy, but the shape of the face will elongate to compensate for slurping along with inferior jaw bone strength.
The alternative to nose breathing is mouth breathing, which drastically lowers oxygen intake which mimics and contributes to sleep apnea like conditions even while awake. There is a measured cognitive decline associated with the degree of oxygen suppressed in air intake. Mouth breathing also negatively contributes to developmental face shape, but less so than slurping soft foods.
first thing that came to mind is toothpicks. wonder if that's where the idea for the study came from. There was a time when men always had a toothpick in their mouth. Guess there was something to it! Seems like the simplest way to "try" this technique as it's certainly tested - or are their health risks for chewing on a toothpick?
I want to say that it’s not a linear relationship between hardness and cognitive function. There’s something about putting effort into biting something and it “giving” that, to me, makes this super satisfying and kinda puts me into a flow in a way. The tactical feedback is important. Maybe I’m just weird. :)
glycyrrhizic acid in licorice can drop your blood potassium level and cause cardiac arrhythmia, however, as well as commonly raising blood pressure [1]
As someone who's spouse is currently in their 3rd year of rehabilitation after TMJ (tempo-mandibular joint) reconstruction, let me warn you against any kind of chewing activity that involves either high direct pressures (ice, hard things that "crack", anything that resists biting down very much), or strong lateral forces (bagels, pizza crust).
We're about $60K in to her treatment. She's had the meniscus of the joints on both sides of her jaw surgically repaired and now is undergoing orthodontia to permit her jaw to safely re-align.
This after a year of excruciating pain (the TMJ was bone to bone contact), and a year of painful muscular rehab. Unless you are a maxillofacial surgeon or perhaps a particular specialty of orthodontia you are probably unaware of just how many muscles in the head have to re-learn how to work after TMJ problems.
The "straw that broke the camel's back" in her case?
I used to buy a pack of cashew nuts every day during lunchtime. One day I realized my jaw has started making a clicking sound and the muscle feels kinda loose. That was ten years ago; it's gotten somewhat better and I also learned to avoid that particular motion but never recovered.
I assume this will turn into some kind of insane tiktok "life hack" trend that makes increasingly outrageous and false claims, and then in a couple months dentists will see their revenues jump.
"hard material"
think of the wreck and ruin, if it realy works
it will be possible to detect proximity to the "better" educational institutions just from the amount of gnaw marks
> However, the mechanisms linking cerebral blood flow increase to metabolic changes in the brain affecting cognition remain unclear.
Stanford research published after that article provides that answer: Face shape. It's not just better cognitive performance but the alternative contributes to face shape commonly perceived as "not beautiful".
The Stanford research, and no I don't have a link, concludes there are two activities responsible for these traits: slurping soft foods and mouth breathing. The alternative to chewing hard foods is slurping soft foods and the frequent activity of slurping alters the shape of a person's face as they grow because humans were really only designed to consistently slurp soft foods in infancy, but the shape of the face will elongate to compensate for slurping along with inferior jaw bone strength.
The alternative to nose breathing is mouth breathing, which drastically lowers oxygen intake which mimics and contributes to sleep apnea like conditions even while awake. There is a measured cognitive decline associated with the degree of oxygen suppressed in air intake. Mouth breathing also negatively contributes to developmental face shape, but less so than slurping soft foods.
first thing that came to mind is toothpicks. wonder if that's where the idea for the study came from. There was a time when men always had a toothpick in their mouth. Guess there was something to it! Seems like the simplest way to "try" this technique as it's certainly tested - or are their health risks for chewing on a toothpick?
Haribo
I want to say that it’s not a linear relationship between hardness and cognitive function. There’s something about putting effort into biting something and it “giving” that, to me, makes this super satisfying and kinda puts me into a flow in a way. The tactical feedback is important. Maybe I’m just weird. :)
The term for this in the food business is "mouthfeel". It is a gigantic part of their R&D process.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_rheology#Psychorheology
I recall a trend for Wall Street traders to "chew on ice" a few years ago. I believe it originated with Julian Robertson of the Tiger hedge fund.
I wonder if this offers one explanation for nail biting
haha i was wondering the same. I hate my nail biting habit and there are few days where i can go without it and then it comes back and stays.
Huh, are there speciality chewing sticks purpose made for this?
'Miswak' sticks are popular in the Middle East/Northern Africa.
Raw mastic gum seems to be gaining popularity in the US.
Neither is popular for the explicit purpose of cognitive enhancement, though.
I know that there are hard rubber like material that were made to strengthen jaw muscles.
Licorice sticks might be used too.
glycyrrhizic acid in licorice can drop your blood potassium level and cause cardiac arrhythmia, however, as well as commonly raising blood pressure [1]
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6836258/
I personally use turkish falim gum, you can get it basically without flavor, it's pretty hard and you can chew on it for >1h without it tasting weird
very nice, i didn't know about it, thanks
I used to always chew on a scrap piece of CAT5 when doing cabling etc
As someone who's spouse is currently in their 3rd year of rehabilitation after TMJ (tempo-mandibular joint) reconstruction, let me warn you against any kind of chewing activity that involves either high direct pressures (ice, hard things that "crack", anything that resists biting down very much), or strong lateral forces (bagels, pizza crust).
We're about $60K in to her treatment. She's had the meniscus of the joints on both sides of her jaw surgically repaired and now is undergoing orthodontia to permit her jaw to safely re-align.
This after a year of excruciating pain (the TMJ was bone to bone contact), and a year of painful muscular rehab. Unless you are a maxillofacial surgeon or perhaps a particular specialty of orthodontia you are probably unaware of just how many muscles in the head have to re-learn how to work after TMJ problems.
The "straw that broke the camel's back" in her case?
A pistachio nut.
I used to buy a pack of cashew nuts every day during lunchtime. One day I realized my jaw has started making a clicking sound and the muscle feels kinda loose. That was ten years ago; it's gotten somewhat better and I also learned to avoid that particular motion but never recovered.
Perhaps drinking soylent didn't improve my productivity after all.
How do you get the caps open? It's so difficult to even unscrew them!
Have you tried chewing on them?
I assume this will turn into some kind of insane tiktok "life hack" trend that makes increasingly outrageous and false claims, and then in a couple months dentists will see their revenues jump.
I just googled "indium chewing gum" and was not disappointed.
"hard material" think of the wreck and ruin, if it realy works it will be possible to detect proximity to the "better" educational institutions just from the amount of gnaw marks
Tl;dr: Chewing pencils is more powerful than chewing gum.
More fiber but watch out for lead poisoning
/s just in case it needed to be spelled out
I can't wait for replication!
"Chewing diamonds increased memory assessment scores over chewing sticks"