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?
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.
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).
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.
The primary purpose of human teeth is not to chew on wood sticks for 5 minutes straight. Of course, on the internet no one knows if you're a panda.
From the study:
> In the wood-chewing group, changes in GSH concentrations demonstrated a positive correlation with immediate memory (r = 0.520, p = 0.008) and story memory (r = 0.439, p = 0.028) scores (Figure 3). However, no significant correlations were observed in the gum-chewing group.
> 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.
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. :)
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.
"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
Readit News
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.
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).
From the study: > In the wood-chewing group, changes in GSH concentrations demonstrated a positive correlation with immediate memory (r = 0.520, p = 0.008) and story memory (r = 0.439, p = 0.028) scores (Figure 3). However, no significant correlations were observed in the gum-chewing group.
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.
However, my nose is decorative, and I must breath though my mouth. No repercussions as I can mountain climb.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_rheology#Psychorheology
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-996/xylitol
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.]
https://www.amazon.com/Falim-Sugarless-Plain-Pack-Pieces/dp/...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/186114277099?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=2...
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