We all know what it’s like when a song gets stuck in your head and won’t go away. This endless loop of music running through your brain is called an earworm.
Most of the population suffers from something like this and when it happens, you just want to get that song out of your head. But how? A study out of the University of Reading suggests that squashing an earworm may be as simple as chewing gum.
Researchers found that for some people, the act of chewing gum interrupts the brain’s “inner speech” and can take our minds off that loop of music.
It’s not foolproof—it doesn’t work for everybody—but at least it’s something you can try the next time you get an earworm.
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