20 Bad Habits That Damage Your Brain
Chewing gum.
On the one had, chewing gum has been shown to reduce stress, which is actually a good thing if you want to maximize the power of your grey matter—but it comes at a price. A study from 2012 showed that chewing gum can actually impair short term memory for both item order and item identity. Scientists at Cardiff University in Wales found that gum chewing made it more difficult for participants to recall lists of words and numbers in the order in which they were seen or heard. Additionally, they found that people were less able to spot missing items in lists.
