Getting songs stuck in your head can be really annoying. It’s particularly bad if the song itself sucks, but has that oh-so-catchy hook that you just can’t shake. No matter how good the song may be, though, it’s never gonna sound good looped on repeat in your head for hours on end.
Luckily, researchers over at the University of Reading have been hard at work solving life’s most difficult troubles. And as it turns out, the answer is far more simple than we thought.
Yep, researchers have concluded that chewing gum can help you to get a song out of your head.
The conducted a study of 98 subjects. Each one was told to listen to a variety of pop songs, by aritsts including David Guetta and Maroon 5. Of the 98, one third were instructed to chew gum, one third tapped on a desk and the final third did nothing. At the end of each track, the subjects sat through three minutes of silence. They had to press a button if the song popped back into their head.
The researchers discovered that those who were chewing gum thought about the track less than the others.
Look I’m not sure how scientifically sound this is. I mean, there’s a LOT of potential circumstances that could affect this, and it would’ve been more effective to test out on a larger range of people who already had a song stuck in their head. If it wasn’t stuck there in the first place, then I’m not sure how conclusive this really is. Regardless, it’s certainly worth a shot. Especially if you’ve got David Guetta or fucking maroon 5 stuck in your head. Ouch.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald