AccScience Publishing / JCTR / Volume 2 / Issue 2 / DOI: 10.18053/jctres.02.201602.002
REVIEW

Chewing gum and stress reduction

Andrew P Smith1
Show Less
1 Centre for Occupational and Health Psychology, School of Psychology, Cardiff University
Received: 26 March 2016 | Revised: 12 April 2016 | Accepted: 23 April 2016 | Published online: 24 April 2016
© 2016 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

The behavioral effects of chewing gum have been studied for over 80 years and much of the research has been concerned with increases in alertness and attention. Another line of research has addressed the issue of whether chewing gum reduces stress. This topic has been studied in the laboratory, in epidemiological studies and real-life interventions. The present article briefly reviews the area and makes the case for dissemination of the findings with the aim of reducing stress in the general population and patient groups.

Keywords
stress
chewing gum
mental health
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
References

[1] Allen AP, Smith A. A review of the evidence that chewing gum  affects stress, alertness and cognition. J Behav Health Serv Res.  2011; 9: 7-23.

[2] Allen AP, Smith A. Chewing gum: cognitive performance,  mood, well-being and associated physiology. Biomed Res Int.  2015; 2015: 654806.

[3] Scholey A, Haskell C, Robertson B, Kennedy D, Milne A,  Wetherell M. Chewing gum alleviates negative mood and reduces cortisol during acute laboratory psychological stress.  Physiol Behav. 2009; 97: 304-312.

[4] Johnson AJ, Jenks R, Miles C, Albert M, Cox M. Chewing gum  moderates multi-task induced shifts in stress, mood, and alertness. A re-examination. Appetite. 2011; 56: 408-411.

[5] Sketchley-Kaye K, Jenks R, Miles C, Johnson AJ. Chewing  gum modifies state anxiety and alertness under conditions of  social stress. Nutr Neurosci. 2011; 14: 237-242.

[6] Gray G, Miles C, Wilson N, Jenks R, Cox M, Johnson AJ. The  contrasting physiological and subjective effects of chewing gum  on social stress. Appetite. 2012; 58: 554-558.

[7] Torney LK, Johnson AJ, Miles C. Chewing gum and impasse-induced self-reported stress. Appetite. 2009; 53: 414-417.

[8] Smith, A. P. Effects of caffeine in chewing gum on mood and  attention. Hum Psychopharmacol Clin Exp. 2009; 24: 239-247.

[9] Smith AP. Effects of chewing gum on cognition function, mood  and physiology in stressed and non-stressed volunteers. Nutr  Neurosci. 2010; 13: 7-16.

[10] Princeton Review, Wrigley. Study habits survey. 2005. New  York: Princeton Review.

[11] Pawlow, LA, Jones GE. The impact of abbreviated progressive  muscle relaxation on salivary cortisol. Biol Psychol. 2002; 60:  1-16

[12] Ahlberg J, Rantala M, Savolainen A, Suvinen T, Nissinen M,  Sarna S, Lindholm H, Könönen M. Reported bruxism and stress  experience. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2002; 30: 405- 408.

[13] Smith AP. Chewing gum, stress and health. Stress Health. 2009;  25: 445-451.

[14] Smith AP. Effects of chewing gum on stress and health: A replication and investigation of dose-response. Stress Health. 2013;29: 172-174.

[15] Smith AP, Chaplin K, Wadsworth E. Chewing gum, occupational stress, work performance and wellbeing. An intervention  study. Appetite. 2012; 58: 1083-6.

[16] Smith AP, Woods M. Effects of chewing gum on the stress and  work of university students. Appetite. 2012; 58: 1037-1040.

[17] Zibell S, Madansky E. Impact of chewing gum on stress levels:  online self-perception research study. Curr Med Res Opin. 2009;  25: 1491-1500.

[18] Britt, DM, Collins FL, Cohen LM. Cigarette smoking and  chewing gum use among college students. J App Biobehav Res.  1999; 4: 85-90.

[19] Cohen LM, Britt DM, Collins FL, al’ Absi M, McChargue DE.  Multimodal assessment of the effect of chewing gum on nicotine withdrawal. Addict Behav, 2001; 26: 289-295.

[20] Weijenberg RA, Lobbezoo F. Chew the pain away: Oral habits  to cope with pain and stress and to stimulate cognition. Biomed  Res Int. 2015; 2015:149431.

[21] Walker J, Hosiner A, Kergoat S, Waler JM, Somoza V. Chewing  unflavored gum does not reduce cortisol levels during a cognitive task but increases the response of the sympathetic nervous  system. Physiol Beh, 2016; 154: 8-14.

[22] Tasaka A, Tahara Y, Sugiyama T, Sakurai K. Influence of  chewing rate on salivary stress hormone levels. The Journal of  the Japanese Prosthodontic Society. 2008; 52: 482-487.

[23] Kamiya K, Fumoto M, Kikuchi H, Sekiyama T, Umino M,  Arita H. Gum chewing evokes activation of ventral prefrontal  cortex and suppression of nociceptive responses: involvement  of brain serotonergic system. Europ J Pain. 2009; 13: S262-S263

[24] Yu H, Chen X, Liu J, Zhou X. Gum chewing inhibits the sensory processing and the propagation of stress-related information  in the brain network. Plos One. 2013; 8: e57111.

[25] Konno M, Takeda T, Kawakami Y, Suzuki Y, Kawano Y,  Nakajima K, Ozawa T, Ishigami K, Takemura N, Sakatani K.  Relationships between gum-chewing and stress. Adv Exp Med  Biol. 2016; 876: 343-349.

[26] Kubo KY, Linuma M, Chen H. Mastication as a stress-coping  behavior. Biomed Res Int, 2015, 2015: 876409.

[27] Erbay FM, Aydın N, Satı-Kırkan T. Chewing gum may be an  effective complementary therapy in patients with mild to moderate depression. Appetite. 2013; 65: 31-34.

[28] Hollingworth HL. Chewing as a technique of relaxation. Science. 1939; 90: 385-387.

Share
Back to top
Journal of Clinical and Translational Research, Electronic ISSN: 2424-810X Print ISSN: 2382-6533, Published by AccScience Publishing