Boost reaction time by chewing gum

My Hormonology

Boost reaction time by chewing gum

teethIn Week 3 and Week 4, sedating progesterone coupled with lower levels of estrogen can make you a bit groggy and slow down your reaction time when driving, competing in sports or playing video games. Now researchers have discovered an easy fix: Chew gum, sunflower seeds, gummy bears or anything else that gets your jaw moving. A new study in the journal Brain and Cognition reveals that jaw muscles stimulate certain areas of the brain responsible for spotting movement, improving your reaction time by 7%. While that doesn’t seem like much, it can mean all the difference when avoiding a car veering into your lane, catching a line drive or obliterating on-screen aliens! Best of all, it takes just 10 seconds of chewing to activate this improvement in reaction time—and the effect lasts for 15 minutes after you stop!

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