loco5niner 4 hours ago

Please also include the effect decades later after extensive dental work.

austin-cheney 5 hours ago

> 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.

  • msie 4 hours ago

    I don't get why mouth-breathing drastically lowers oxygen intake.

    • VOIPThrowaway 4 hours ago

      As I understand it, when exhaling, the nose create backpressure that facilitates gas transfer in the lungs.

      However, my nose is decorative, and I must breath though my mouth. No repercussions as I can mountain climb.

    • TeMPOraL 4 hours ago

      Makes no sense - I'd expect the opposite, given how easier it is to breathe in and out larger volume of air through the mouth than through the nose.

      • austin-cheney 3 hours ago

        Why? Internally to the face the nasal cavity is massive and largely not restricted, especially compared to the throat (pharynx) which is restricted and can accept only small volumes of air at a time. Because of that the body must work substantially harder to permit large air volumes through mouth breathing.

        Just search google images for "pharynx". The visual difference in size is striking.

        • mystified5016 3 hours ago

          1. Your nose connects to the same tube as your mouth. Both paths pass through the throat and pharynx.

          2. Compare the aperture size of the nostrils to the mouth and throat

          3. Just look at the internal structure of the nasal cavity. It's a sensory organ and designed to maximize surface area contacting the air. In other words, it's full of obstructions that intentionally reduce airflow

          Your thesis here is nonsense. You can't change a downstream restriction by changing conditions upstream.

          If anything, adding restriction is probably what helps. By restricting airflow upstream of the lungs, you create a partial vacuum within the lungs which probably substantially alters the conditions for gas exchange. A partial vacuum probably greatly enhances CO2 rejection from the blood, but I'm not a biochemist.

The28thDuck 5 hours ago

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. :)

galaxyLogic 5 hours ago

How about chewing gum? Especially chewing Xylitol chewing gum.

https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-996/xylitol

  • spudlyo 4 hours ago

    I do some language learning study at roughly the same time every morning with gum. I spike it with 1mg dose of Nicorette (which I get by cutting a 4mg square into quarters) for its well documented effects on learning and cognition. It hadn't ocured to me that chewing might have a benefit as well. As a former smoker, I'm well aware of how addictive nicotine is, so I'm careful.

  • MrMcCall an hour ago

    In Turkiye, they have unflavored gum. I couldn't believe it!

    Now I know, now I know. Interesting new fact of the day.

    I wonder how it affects the teeth? Perhaps it helps strengthen them. Perhaps it wears them down more quickly. I couldn't hazard a guess.

    [ETA: After reading about the TMJ elsehere, it looks like that mandibular joint is of greater concern. Gotta be careful with that wear-and-tear.]

  • tiahura 3 hours ago

    Do not binge Xylitol on an empty stomach.

  • devmor 4 hours ago

    That is covered in the linked article.

karmakaze 3 hours ago

I kept a platter pack of almonds by my desk. I had to stop because it was starting to make me feel ill. There's no poison risk AFAIK from store bought almonds which are the sweet (not bitter) variety.

bluedino 5 hours ago

I used to always chew on a scrap piece of CAT5 when doing cabling etc

virgil_disgr4ce 5 hours ago

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.

  • Lalabadie 5 hours ago

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

  • boothby 5 hours ago

    I just googled "indium chewing gum" and was not disappointed.

ecolonsmak 5 hours ago

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

  • stronglikedan 5 hours ago

    Yes! You have one on the tip of each finger. Just don't go too crazy because while they're rechargeable, they recharge very slowly.

    • itzTheMeow_ 4 hours ago

      what do you do when you're all out?

      • RandomBacon 3 hours ago

        There's an emergency backup source located at the ends of your two other large extremities.

  • sithadmin 5 hours ago

    '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.

    • fuzztester 4 hours ago

      >Miswak' sticks are popular in the Middle East/Northern Africa.

      that is for cleaning the teeth, and I read somewhere that there is some evident that it is somewhat effective in reducing tooth decay.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miswak

      in India there was or is a toothpaste brand called Meswak, which includes miswak as an ingredient.

      nice wordplay in your username :)

  • agumonkey 5 hours ago

    I know that there are hard rubber like material that were made to strengthen jaw muscles.

    Licorice sticks might be used too.

    • cenamus 5 hours ago

      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

      • agumonkey 5 hours ago

        very nice, i didn't know about it, thanks

    • tiahura 3 hours ago

      Doesn't licorice lower intelligence?

  • _DeadFred_ 5 hours ago

    Hmmm, whoever makes this should also infuse it with carbs so they can also make CHO mouth rinsing claims. Helps to have more than one gimmick in a product.

  • 01100011 5 hours ago

    Look up teething sticks for toddlers?

calmbonsai 5 hours ago

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.

nadavwr 5 hours ago

I wonder if this offers one explanation for nail biting

  • nelblu 5 hours ago

    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.

marstall 5 hours ago

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?

  • mystified5016 3 hours ago

    Don't swallow it. Your digestive system can't really break down wood. Small particles will pass through, but you definitely do not want a punctured intestine.

euroderf 4 hours ago

I cannot eat goop and glop in the morning. I need to chew. It makes my brain work better.

pingou 5 hours ago

Perhaps drinking soylent didn't improve my productivity after all.

  • y-curious 5 hours ago

    How do you get the caps open? It's so difficult to even unscrew them!

    • tobr 5 hours ago

      Have you tried chewing on them?

jhayward 5 hours ago

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.

  • parasti 5 hours ago

    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.

    • freedomben 4 hours ago

      Same, I have severe TMJ and there's never really any recovery. Just learn to chew a very specific way to avoid inflaming it. Absolutely miserable

    • stavros 4 hours ago

      I don't understand, what did the cashews do? They're pretty soft, no?

      • parasti an hour ago

        It's the constant chewing that did me in.

        • stavros an hour ago

          Huh, really? I didn't realise that was a thing, that sucks...

  • jajko 4 hours ago

    Wishing good luck to your spouse with treatment and recovery.

    Aside - so much for that touted improvements in US medical care bills. I've mentioned this before as a massive differentiator between Europe and US from what I can see from distance, and was shushed here on HN that only total losers get insurance that basically doesn't cover everything these days... 60k, wow, how many folks can't just fork that out of pocket and have to take a loan or just suffer till end of days?

    I've had last year paragliding accident with both legs broken and badly bruised knee, underwent months of treatments, physio, tons of scans and still doing some hospital visits (ie had 2 MRIs few weeks ago). Cost? What cost? 3 weeks fully off work, salary kept coming 100%. This is in most capitalistic country in Europe - Switzerland, on basic health insurance (but accidents are 100% covered by employer's insurance by law here).

metalman 5 hours ago

"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

tdeck 5 hours ago

Tl;dr: Chewing pencils is more powerful than chewing gum.

  • triceratops 5 hours ago

    More fiber but watch out for lead poisoning

    /s just in case it needed to be spelled out

    • tdeck 4 hours ago

      Splinters can't be pleasant either.

  • readthenotes1 5 hours ago

    I can't wait for replication!

    "Chewing diamonds increased memory assessment scores over chewing sticks"