Jen Kessy is certainly fond of gum. , she took an early timeout in her second game against Brazil鈥攏ot because she and her partner, April Ross, were two points down and needed to regroup, but because Kessey forgot her gum. Once she started masticating, she started winning, finishing the game 21 to 19.
But was the turnaround in Kessy鈥檚 performance a gum-related placebo effect, or did the gum actually help? The answer: It actually helps.
Various studies have shown that chewing gum can , improve and , and . Throwing caffeine into the mix by chewing on 鈥渆nergy gum,鈥 like or , directly before competing has been shown to additionally .
How can one stick of gum achieve all of that? It鈥檚 thought that chewing gum to the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for regulating emotions and deciding on actions.
Chewing gum, , is particularly useful in sports requiring high levels of concentration and lower levels of physical exertion, like golf. In other sports, like swimming, chewing gum can be more of a choking hazard than a psychogenic aid.
Interesting note: that the more importance athletes put on a particular event, the more likely they were to chew gum, and that women relied on gum more than men to help deal with stress related to competition.
As for whether or not Kessy has really bad breath, we鈥檙e guessing that considering the amount of gum she so famously chews, the answer is no.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Chew the gum.