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Effect of chewing hard material on enhancing cognitive function

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Re: Effect of chewing hard material on enhancing cognitive function

#22
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that there are hard rubber like material that were made to strengthen jaw muscles. Licorice sticks might be used too.

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

Re: Effect of chewing hard material on enhancing cognitive function

#23
> 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.

Re: Effect of chewing hard material on enhancing cognitive function

#24

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…

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.

Re: Effect of chewing hard material on enhancing cognitive function

#25
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?

Re: Effect of chewing hard material on enhancing cognitive function

#26

Huh, are there speciality chewing sticks purpose made for this?

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/

Re: Effect of chewing hard material on enhancing cognitive function

#30

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.

You can google the book "Jaws: A hidden epidemic" if you'd like to get started in the rabbit hole without delay!
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