Somehow the following doesn't add up--

"Most everybody loves to chew gum, whether for the flavor or just for the simple pleasure of chewing. But did you know that chewing gum also:

Improves Concentration
At work, chewing gum helps us concentrate on the task at hand. Many truck drivers find that chewing gum helps them stay alert at the wheel.

Eases Tension
As early as 1939, scientific studies showed how chewing reduces muscular tension and helps people feel more at ease. Because it is so well-recognized for helping stay alert at the same time it eases tension, the U.S. Armed Forces have supplied chewing gum to its soldiers ever since World War I. It is still included in field and combat rations today.

Chewing Gum Makes You Think Better

"Research has shown that chewing does indeed increase our ability to concentrate and to retain what we've learned. In fact, studies indicate that, for both kids and adults, mental tasks are completed up to 20% more effectively when we chew gum."

http://www.wrigley.com/wrigley/products/products_benefits.asp

It goes poorly with plastic dental work. . . . . .or plasic teeth, braces, bridges, or loose fillings, crowns and caps.

i was an excessive gum chewer/coffee drinker, to deal with the ADHD, until i started focalin two weeks ago.

I still chew gum...because I still have one side-effect from Adderall, dry/cotton mouth...and yucky taste...so I chew it and drink lots of juice/water....

If it helps my concentration...yipee then!

I'm confused. (ground state normal) What doesn't add up?

We're told to fidget to help out concentration, isn't gum chewing just sort of a mandibular fidget?

Some years back I read a book on serotonin by the chief editor of Headache Journal. She sites the same conclusion, stating that it is the prolonged repeated action that causes a balancing or boost (like I said,read it a few years ago) of neurotransmitters.

Result: I am in the pro-gum camp. (Darn it, where's a bubble blowing smiley when you need it?)

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n100/justhope_36/emotions/untitled.jpg

Here you can Proscrir..you can steal this one...Here's to starting a gum chewing club!

Prince Charles was once cited by journalist as chewing gum at a ceremony. Egads, what else can happen? The chewing gum revolution is upon us.

This is making me want to run out and buy a couple packs of Trident. I was an avid gum chewer in college. Maybe I need to get back into that habit.

-was- ... i AM an *excessive* gum chewin' coffee drinkin' tabasco,chilli immersin' h_eater ...

Ahhh!

chilli-coffee sugar-free gum

Yeah!

feelin' hot
stay up all night
masticating

"Research has shown that chewing does indeed increase our ability to concentrate and to retain what we've learned. In fact, studies indicate that, for both kids and adults, mental tasks are completed up to 20% more effectively when we chew gum."

i dont know about improving consentration, i have to constentrate not to bite my tounge or lip while chewing the gum that i can remeber what is going on around be. so much for walking and chewing gum.

"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor"
Recorded by: "Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh-me, oh-my, oh-you
Whatever shall I do
Hallelujah, the question is peculiar
I'd give a lot of dough
If only I could know
The answer to my question
Is it yes or is it no

Does your chewing gum lose its flavour
On the bedpost overnight
If your mother says don't chew it
Do you swallow it in spite
Can you catch it on your tonsils
Can you heave it left and right
Does your chewing gum lose its flavour
On the bedpost overnight

Here comes a blushing bride
The groom is by her side
Up to the altar
Just as steady as Gibraltar
Why, the groom has got the ring
And it's such a pretty thing
But as he slips it on her finger
The choir begins to sing

Does your chewing gum lose its flavour
On the bedpost overnight
If your mother says don't chew it
Do you swallow it in spite
Can you catch it on your tonsils
Can you heave it left and right
Does your chewing gum lose its flavour
On the bedpost overnight

Now the nation rise is one
To send their only son
Up to the White House
Yes, the nation's only White House
To voice their discontent
Unto the Pres-I-dent
They pawn the burning question
What has swept this continent

(Lonnie speaks)
If tin whistles are made of tin
What do they make fog horns out of
Boom, boom

Does your chewing gum lose its flavour
On the bedpost overnight
If your mother says don't chew it
Do you swallow it in spite
Can you catch it on your tonsils
Can you heave it left and right
Does your chewing gum lose its flavour
On the bedpost overnight

On the bedpost overnight

(Man)
Hello there, I love you and the one who holds you tight

(Lonnie)
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Thursday, Friday, Sat'day night

On the bedpost overnight

(Man)
A dollar is a dollar and a dime is a dime

(Lonnie)
He's singin' out the chorus
But he hasn't got the time

On the bedpost overnight, yeah

Now the nation rise is one
To send their only son
Up to the White House
Yes, the nation's only White House
To voice their discontent
Unto the Pres-I-dent
They pawn the burning question
What has swept this continent
-quote-
"The Queen & The Soldier"
Suzanna Vega

A soldier came knocking upon the queen's door
He said, '
I'm not fighting for you any more'
and the queen knew she'd seen his face
someplace before
... slowly she let him inside.

He said,
'I've watched your palace up here on the hill
And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill
I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will
Only first I am asking you wh{w{why???}hy}y.'

{{{}}}

... the sun, it was gold, though the sky, it was gray
And she wanted more than she ever could say
though she knew how it frightened her, and she turned away
And would not look upon his face again.

he said,
'I want to live as an honest man'
To get all I deserve and to give all I can
And to love a young woman who I don't understand
Your highness, your ways are very s{t{strange}range}trange.'

... the crown it had fallen,
and she thought she would break
And she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart ached
She took him to the doorstep and she asked him to wait
She would only be a moment inside.

Out in the distance her order was heard
the soldier was killed,
still waiting for her word
And while the queen cowered in the solitude she preferred
The battle continued on
-quote ends-

'cept we're not going to allow that to happen
because it's not right
not right
- no -
*not* right at all

...enforced moral consistency...

is an important consequence of the evolutionary event which has yielded

Homo neosapiens

aka

~ADDers~

I used to chew on my tongue while concentrating, it was a sub conscious act - I’m not sure how common that is.

Maybe I still do it; I don't pay enough attention to reality to know for sure :D

I like that story SB, reminds me of an independent film i watched.


I think these threads (http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25174) are related

...chew while concentrating... how common ...?...hey Zach - :-) - very common.

I think the solution resides in an exaptation based around

eating ->- gut chemical release ->- transport to brain for central activity.

The gut is often called the second brain.
And there are a large number of hormone-like candidates

... here're a few of those guys ...

haven't read'em - just google hits

source (http://www.immunesupport.com/Library/showarticle.cfm/ID/5270/HealthWatch/HealthWatch-Spring-2004)
'There is a second brain in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract called the enteric nervous system, or ENS.'

source (http://ajpgi.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/280/6/G1055)
Receptors and Transmission in the Brain-Gut Axis
II. Excitatory amino acid receptors in the brain-gut axis

VIP,CCK,NMU are examples
->- there're a coupla' others in that latter paper
kinda' noteworthy (those latter 2 in the latter of the two) I guess
:-)

pacing ->- neural *stimulation*

chewing ->- neural *stimulation*

Tammy would call this 'stimulation seeking personality'

ADD == 'stimulation seeking personality'

Tammy would (of course)

be correct.

As -are- you ... :-) ...

Eating was pretty much all the worm did ->- was a digestive system that moved (kinda' Homer Simpson (if he ever moved))
'Marg, make him stop'
:-)

So I guess chew ->- stimulation of the ENS ... but then as we became a little more than just a digestive system ->- exaptative events ->- ->- stimulation of the CNS, or rather that the biochemical process elicited by chewing ->- was co-opted into another other function.

Hmmm ...

Concentration.

Now if only I could think of a couple of neurochemicals which might be involved in both processes.

It'd be nice if they were listed in a post one or so up from this one.
And also in a parallel and currently active thread on 'ketamine'

... but that'd be asking for too much

wouldn't it?

wouldn't it?

:-)

from a post or so above ...

IONOTROPIC GLUTAMATE RECEPTORS AND THE BRAIN-GUT AXIS
Ionotropic glutamate (iGlu) receptors are ligand-gated ion channels comprising of three subtypes,
N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA),
amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA),
and kainate (KA) receptors.

METABOTROPIC GLUTAMATE RECEPTORS AND THE BRAIN-GUT AXIS
Although it was initially thought that glutamate acted only on iGlu receptors,
it was later discovered that this ubiquitous transmitter also acts on metabotropic (mGlu) receptors.
... from a parallel thread (http://www.addforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=390110&postcount=10) on ketamine ...
realistically, with these complex and chronic conditions, it is unlikely that a one-time treatment will be a complete cure: with addiction, depression and RSD, it is already clear that many people either do not respond or relapse at some point after ketamine therapy. But understanding how the NMDA and glutamate systems drive memory and create responses that are resistant to change could offer insights well beyond these conditions in which the brain has got stuck in a rut and needs a reboot. Ketamine's mind-altering properties may be far more useful than any clubber ever imagined. [source (http://emj.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/21/3/351)]
ketamine promotes gut motility

That's interesting; I'm a gum fanatic, and start to freak if I don't have at least three packages on me at all times.

...That probably makes me somewhat equivalent to a smoker. I have a half-a-pack a day habit. Heh.

Doesn't that just make you want to go and oh so nicely lecture all the teachers back in highschool/elementary that told you 'if they caught you chewing gum one more time...'

Gum rules. Right now, I'm into Trident Green Apple Fusion.