Why Do We Love Chewing Gum So Much?

Chewing gum has been around for ages, and it's not just about fresh breath. It turns out, there's something about chewing that makes us feel better. Scientists have been trying to figure out why we enjoy it so much, but it's still a bit of a mystery. People have been chewing stuff for thousands of years. The oldest known gum was found in Scandinavia and was made from birch bark pitch. It was used to make glue, but kids as young as five were also chewing it for fun. Other cultures, like the ancient Greeks, Native Americans, and Mayans, also chewed stuff from trees. Gum became popular in the U. S. in the 1850s when an inventor tried to make a rubber substitute from chicle, a sap from the sapodilla tree. It didn't work, but he ended up making chewing gum instead. William Wrigley Jr. played a big role in making gum popular. He started selling soap and baking soda, but he noticed that the gum he included as a freebie was more popular than his other products. So, he switched to selling gum full-time. Wrigley was a marketing genius. He created huge billboards and even shipped gum to every address in the U. S. phonebook. Gum was so popular that it caused litter problems in New York City. The mayor even asked gum companies to help clean up the streets.During World War I, Wrigley pitched gum to the U. S. military, saying it could help soldiers stay alert and clean their teeth. The military bought into the idea, and since then, gum has been included in soldiers' rations. This helped spread gum around the world. Gum companies have always claimed that chewing gum has health benefits. In the early 1900s, ads said gum could calm you down and help you sleep. In the 1940s, a study found that chewing gum reduced tension, but the researchers couldn't explain why. Today, scientists are still studying the effects of gum on the brain. Some studies show that chewing gum can increase alertness and attention, especially for boring tasks. It can also reduce stress in some situations, like before a public presentation or a math test. But it doesn't seem to help with extreme stress, like before a surgery or an unsolvable puzzle. One theory is that chewing gum distracts us from stressful things, which affects our body's stress response system. But the evidence is mixed. Some studies show that gum can reduce stress hormones, while others show it can increase them. Another theory is that chewing gum is just a repetitive motion that we enjoy, like tapping our toes or clicking a pen. Humans don't chew as much as other primates, so maybe we like the sensation of chewing because it's different from what we usually do.