Since I was a child I have had a fear of chewing gum. I was 9 years old the first time that I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I’m not talking about the lesser remake, but the original with the brilliant Gene Wilder and the bright orange Oompa Lumpas. I watched in awe as Violet Beauregarde chewed her gum and put it behind her ear for later. I loved the idea of the three-course chewing gum meal, well until she turned blue at least! So, being nine years old, I decided to copy Violet and put my cherry hubba bubba chewing gum behind my ear.
This was something I had never done before and I must have totally forgotten it was there. My mum put me to bed that night and a few hours later I woke up to one side of my head being sticky and my hair clumping and absolutely covered. I remember shouting for my mum to help and I will never forget the look of horror on her face when she entered my room. Bright pink chewing gum had spread from behind my ear to cover the left side of my hair. There was no getting it out – no matter how much she pulled and pulled the chewing gum was lodged into the hair and there to stay. Out came the razor, and after what felt like fifteen years I had a shaved head.
Why am I telling you this? Well, I don’t want you to have the same fear of chewing gum, as it can actually be highly useful for your CIPS training. According to a growing number of studies chewing gum can actually increase your alertness, improve concentration and even improve your performance in tests. Students in studies who had chewing gum outperformed those without 5 out of 6 different tests. This concentration seems to only work short-term, but could make a huge difference to your result in the exam.
Crack out that chewing gum and start your revision!
(P.S make sure the gum is without xylitol as you don’t want the artificial sweeteners to slow you down!)
