Chewing gum and performance improvement

Javier Colomer 4 min. of reading Fitness Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered why many athletes chew gum with a wide jaw movement like a yawn…?

Well, this somewhat clumsy act might actually be considered a possible boost in physical performance, especially if it helps with quick decision-making and involves super fast reaction times.

A good example would be a soccer player acting as a midfielder and game distributor for the team, basically the conductor of the orchestra.

In other cases, an American football player who receives a pass from their “quarterback” and has to decide quickly which way to get past the opponent.

How does chewing gum affect the brain?

Apparently, the jaw movement from chewing gum stimulates brain activity.

Nerves pick up the activity from sensory organs and send it to the brain.

Because of this, there’s an increase in blood flow in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for regulating emotions and decision-making about current actions or situations.

Effects of chewing gum on cognitive activity

Reduction of nerves.
Less stress.
Boost in alertness and focus.
Improved mood and vibe.
Shorter reaction times.

How can chewing gum improve sports performance?

Even if it sounds like a placebo effect (and if it is, welcome!), many athletes notice a slight feeling that chewing gum actually impacts their activity afterward or while practicing.

The effect, as mentioned, comes from the increased activity in the brain’s frontal lobe, which ramps up cognitive function.

So, if there’s a faster processing pace, muscle responses involved in an action can benefit by cutting down reaction time on activating “fast fibers”, giving athletes a little edge, allowing their movements to be more explosive than their opponents’.

On the other hand, chewing gum boosts concentration levels.

This leads to better efficiency in sports where strategy is key, since stress is reduced along with the sluggishness it causes, improving performance patterns.

Though we might be talking about milliseconds in reaction and decision-making skills, in high-level competition, that could be a real “advantage.”

According to research professor Yoshiyuki Hirano from “Chiba University” in Japan, just 10 seconds of chewing gum is enough to trigger the effects described above, which last for about 15 minutes afterward…

Caffeinated gum, the latest trend

Combining the cognitive boost from chewing gum with stimulation, now there’s another performance enhancer with plenty of studies backing it in sports ergogenic aids: caffeine.

So we’re talking about the combo, caffeinated gum 🙂

This is aimed at high-intensity interval sports and team sports, like cycling, which is where the study comes from.

Caffeinated gum for explosive activities and staying focused

You can always take caffeine before starting high-intensity exercise and chew gum at the same time 😉

After testing them, the results were:

Less fatigue
Lower cortisol levels
Increase in anabolic hormones

This would positively impact performance during competition and the following recovery.

References

Allen AP, Smith AP. (2012 Jul). Effects of chewing gum and time-on-task on alertness and attention. School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Smith A.(2010 Feb). Effects of chewing gum on cognitive function, mood and physiology in stressed and non-stressed volunteers. Centre for Occupational and Health Psychology, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, 63 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AS, UK
http://ir.tdc.ac.jp/irucaa/bitstream/10130/688/1/1_47.pdf
http://www.scipress.org/journals/forma/pdf/2701/27010001.pdf
Paton, C., Lowe, T, and Irvine, A. (2010). Caffeinated chewing gum increases repeated sprint performance and augments increases in testosterone in competitive cyclists. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 110(6): 1243-1250.

We tell you the benefits of taking caffeine before training in this link.
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