The contrasting physiological and subjective effects of chewing gum on social stress

Gray, Gemma, Miles, Christopher, Wilson, Nigel, Jenks, Rebecca, Cox, Martin and Johnson, Andrew J. 2012. The contrasting physiological and subjective effects of chewing gum on social stress. Appetite 58 (2) , pp. 554-558. 10.1016/j.appet.2011.11.013

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Uncertainty exists with respect to the extent to which chewing gum may attenuate stress-induced rises in cortisol secretion ( [Johnson et al., 2011], [Scholey et al., 2009] and [Smith, 2010]). The present study used the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST: Kirschbaum, Pirke, & Hellhammer, 1993), a task known to elevate cortisol secretion (Kudielka, Schommer, Hellhammer, & Kirschbaum, 2004), in order to examine the moderating physiological and subjective effects of chewing gum on social stress. Forty participants completed the TSST either with or without chewing gum. As expected, completion of the TSST elevated both cortisol and subjective stress levels, whilst impairing mood. Although gum moderated the perception of stress, cortisol concentrations were higher following the chewing of gum. The findings are consistent with Smith (2010) who argued that elevations in cortisol following the chewing of gum reflect heightened arousal. The findings suggest that chewing gum only benefits subjective measures of stress. The mechanism remains unclear; however, this may reflect increased cerebral blood flow, cognitive distraction, and/or effects secondary to task facilitation.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology T Technology > TX Home economics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Chewing gum ; Social stress ; Cortisol ; Subjective stress
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0195-6663
Last Modified:	19 Mar 2016 22:54
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/30974

Citation Data

Cited 16 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item