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Chew Away Your Stress

Do you remember going to the store and buying a small bag of 5 cent bubble gum and then spending the afternoon seeing who could blow the biggest bubble?

I still like to test out my bubble blowing skills every now and then. There’s nothing like the anticipation of the bubble growing bigger and bigger and waiting for the inevitable pop to take place.

Bubble Gum Day

Bubble Gum Day started as a way of raising money for charity. Kids were allowed to chew bubble gum while at school as long as they donated some money to the school’s fundraising efforts.

Chewing gum has existed for at least 5,000 years. The ancient Aztecs used chicle as a base for making a gum-like substance. Women in particular used this type of gum as a mouth freshener. In 1899 the “Chiclets” company was formed. According to Wrigley’s, the average American today chews 300 sticks of gum per year.

Celebrate Bubble Gum Day. Bubble gum is a great stress reliever to increase your memory and focus. Beverly Beuermann-King Click to tweet

Chewing Gum Can Relieve Our Stress and Be Good For Our Health:

Many of us are aware that gum is good for oral health as your saliva production is stimulated, which has has antibacterial properties and can help flush out food debris, remaining sugars and other harmful acids in your mouth. Chewing gum has other benefits as well. Chew Away Your Stress, Bubble gum is a great stress reliever to increase your memory and focus.

Psychologists have discovered that chewing gum can help you enhance your memory. Chewing gum encourages more blood flow to the brain. When you chew gum, your heart rate increases and more oxygen is delivered to your brain area.
Research has shown that students who chew gum during exams tend to be more alert and focused, but only for the first 20 minutes of chewing.
Scientists at Coventry University found that people chewing mint gum showed a dramatic decrease in feelings of sleepiness.
Chewing gum after a colon surgery helped the patients recover sooner. If the patient chewed gum for fifteen minutes for at least four times per day it sped up their recovery by a day and a half. (World Journal of Surgery, December 2009)

Beverly’s Hot Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating Bubble Gum Day:

Break up the stress of the day and have a bubblegum blowing competition with your friends or co-workers; Chew Away Your Stress.
Blowing a bubble is just like riding a bike, however, if you have forgotten the steps, here is what I found on Wiki to help you along:

1. Chew the bubblegum until it is soft and smooth. Work it around your mouth. Chew until the flavor and sugar crystals in it mostly disappear and the bubblegum is very pliable, after all by chewing bubble gum you chew Away Your Stress.
2. Roll the gum into a ball with your tongue. Use the roof of your mouth to steady the gum in place while you work the ball shape.
3. Move this ball of gum so that it sits right behind your front teeth. Use your tongue to flatten the ball into a small, flat circle. Use the back of your teeth to help flatten it by pushing the ball into them.

More Tips On How To Chew Away Your Stress
1. Position the flattened gum behind your front teeth. Push through this flattened piece of gum with your tongue. Keep pushing until your tongue is covered by a thin, stretched layer of bubblegum. You’ll need to be very gentle or you might poke your tongue right through; if that does happen, just form the ball again and start over.
2. Pull your tongue out of the layer of gum. Hold the layer between your lips. Blow gently so you can feel the air begin to fill the gum and start to push the gum out of your mouth in a bubble shape. Keep blowing.
3. Many people make the mistake of blowing just out of their lips rather than using breath from deeper within; lip breath is not strong enough to produce a proper bubble so be sure to put more energy into it.
4. Keep blowing as long as you can, or until the bubble bursts. Practice, practice, practice. You may not succeed the first few tries but that’s all part of the fun. Just keep trying until it happens for you and you get the hang of what it feels like.

Did you know?

According to Guinness World Records, Chad Fell (USA) blew a bubblegum bubble with a diameter of 50.8 cm (20 in) without using his hands at the Double Springs High School, Winston County, Alabama, USA on 24 April 2004.

A study of Oxford Street, one of London’s busiest shopping streets, showed that a quarter of a million blobs of chewing gum were stuck to its pavement.

One old wives’ tale says that swallowed gum will remain in a human’s stomach for up to 7 years, as it is not digestible. There seems to be little truth behind the tale. In most cases, swallowed gum will pass through the system as quickly as any other food.