Japanese scientists from the National Institute of Radiological Sciences conducted a study and found that regular chewing gum, previously considered a bad habit, has a beneficial effect on brain function..

During the use of chewing gum, thinking is activated, vigilance is increased by 10%, and the speed of reactions also increases, foreign media report, citing information published in the scientific journal Brain and Cognition..

Gum chewing activates eight different areas of the cerebral cortex through a temporary increase in blood supply, according to a study..

In the study, scientists scanned the brains of participants who chewed gum and compared them to those of a control group.. The duration of the test was 30 minutes. As it turned out, a number of indicators in the first group of volunteers were much better than in the second..

So, the reaction time of men and women who did not chew anything, on average, was 545 milliseconds, while for chewers it was 493 milliseconds.. The first group of participants also had other higher cognitive indicators - vigilance, arousal, concentration, memory power and heart rate, which allows the brain to receive more nutrients, oxygen, insulin..

Meanwhile, people who chewed gum had difficulty remembering a column of numbers and letters, compared to those who completed tasks with an empty mouth.. Gum chewing, according to researchers, negatively affects short-term memory, creating interference similar to other body movements carried out during brain activity..

global science. en.