Modern people are constantly overworking their brain’s processing capacity (working memory) to its limit due to the endless wave of smartphone notifications and SNS timelines. When aging is added to this “digital fatigue,” it triggers forgetfulness and a dramatic decline in concentration (brain fog).
As a concept to combat such brain decline, “Cognitive Reserve” is attracting attention in the field of neuroscience. This is, so to speak, the “brain’s reserve tank,” and the larger this tank capacity is, the longer a person can maintain normal cognitive function even if damage accumulates in the brain. Amazingly, one of the most efficient ways to expand this reserve tank on a daily basis and for free is “chewing (mastication).”
Chewing Maximizes “Blood Flow” to the Hippocampus and Prefrontal Cortex
The act of chewing is not just moving the jaw muscles. From the brain’s perspective, it is equivalent to operating a “powerful blood pump” to the entire head.
- On cerebral blood flow: The study that actually measured blood flow during chewing is E16. Blood flow in the inferior frontal gyrus was significantly lower in patients with mandibular prognathism, but cognitive scores showed no significant difference (p=0.48). This point previously cited “fMRI studies” related to E01 for a significant increase in oxygen and glucose supply to the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. E01 is a review whose content is largely rodent experiments.
- By repeating this “blood flow boost” at every meal three times a day, the maintenance and strengthening of the brain’s neural network (synapses) are promoted, and the “dam” named cognitive reserve becomes slightly larger and stronger.
The “Serotonin Buffer” That Protects the Brain from Chronic Stress
Furthermore, chewing goes beyond physically increasing blood flow and rewrites the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain to a “brain protection mode.”
- Modern digital stress and overwork cause the stress hormone (cortisol) to be chronically over-secreted in the brain, and if this continues for a long period, the nerve cells in the hippocampus will physically atrophy (be destroyed) .
- This point previously cited E11 as evidence for serotonin release and autonomic regulation. E11 is not a peer-reviewed paper — it is an explanatory article by an employee of a gum manufacturer — and it reports no measurement of serotonin. No study cited on this site measured serotonin or cortisol. The follow-on claim that serotonin shields the hippocampus from cortisol and prevents stress-driven brain atrophy has been removed with it: no cited study measured hippocampal volume in people who chewed more.
Practical Lifestyle to “Protect the Brain by Chewing”
To expand the brain’s reserve tank (cognitive reserve) and combat aging and stress, a strategy is needed to intentionally maintain and strengthen “chewing power” in daily life.
- Breaking Away from Modern Meals That Have Become “Liquid Foods”: “Meals that can be swallowed without chewing,” such as soft bread, hamburgers, and smoothies, remarkably lower the pump utilization rate to the brain. Strategically introduce “ingredients with high resistance to the jaw” such as brown rice, nuts, and root vegetables to routinely generate blood flow spikes to the brain.
- “Strategic Chewing” During Work: Start chewing hard gum at the timing when you are intensely concentrated on computer work and your brain begins to feel fatigued (when cognitive load is high). This physically raises the blood flow to the prefrontal cortex that was about to decline, and at the same time, makes it possible to calm the disturbance of the autonomic nervous system caused by stress with serotonin.
Chewing is the entry point to digestion, and also a movement you repeat many times a day. But no study cited on this site supports saying it slows the ageing of the brain.
Chew Better, Live Better.
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