The day of a university entrance exam or an important certification test. Countless people head to the exam venue after wolfing down sweet pastries, energy drinks, or massive amounts of white rice in the morning, thinking, “I need sugar to send energy to my brain.”
However, from a physiological standpoint, this traditional “pre-game meal” routine is the worst. Because the act of consuming a large amount of carbohydrates without chewing is precisely pushing the brain’s “shutdown switch,” inviting a rapid drop in blood sugar (insulin crash) immediately after the exam starts, and causing intense drowsiness and a drop in concentration.
To demonstrate your maximum performance (maintenance of working memory and arousal state) in the real production, it is necessary to refine not “what to eat,” but “how to eat using your muscles (jaw) (chewing routine).”
The Brain Hypoxia Caused by “Tension + Fast Eating”
On the morning of the exam day, the function of the stomach and intestines is extremely lowered due to extreme pressure (overtension of the sympathetic nervous system) (autonomic nervous system related to E11). What happens if you wash down soft bread or a jelly drink in that state?
- Occurrence of a Blood Sugar Spike: A meal that skips the chewing process passes quickly through the stomach and is absorbed all at once as sugar in the small intestine.
- Over-Secretion of Insulin and Crash: The pancreas panics at the rapid rise in blood sugar and secretes a massive amount of insulin. As a result, around 10:00 to 11:00 AM during the exam, you fall into a “hypoglycemic state” and are attacked by intense drowsiness (brain fog) that feels like a mist over your head.
- Poor Blood Circulation in the Brain: Because you don’t chew soft things, the blood flow pumps (temporalis and masseter muscles) to the face and head do not activate, and the brain’s performance cannot escape from an idling state (related to E01).
The “Exam Day Chewing Protocol” to Boost Concentration
To prevent this bug and have your brain running at full throttle along with the signal to start the exam, practice the following chewing routine.
1. Breakfast: Setting up a “Physical Obstacle” for the Starter
You don’t need to skip breakfast, but for the first 5 minutes, create a “state where you are forced to chew.”
- Before eating a rice ball or bread, impose a rule where you absolutely put hard texture (ingredients with a bite) like “hard nuts,” “large-cut apples,” or “dried squid” in your mouth, and do not swallow until they become completely liquid (30-50 chews).
- This “heavy labor of the first bite” promotes the secretion of intestinal hormones like GLP-1, making the absorption of carbohydrates eaten afterwards extremely gentle (stabilization of blood sugar levels). At the same time, the physical pumping action of chewing skyrockets blood flow throughout the head, forcibly awakening the brain.
2. Just Before the Exam (15 Minutes Prior): Tactical Gum Chewing
Execute the final boost at the timing when you sit at your desk in the exam venue and close your reference books.
- Put slightly hard sugarless gum in your mouth and continue chewing somewhat strongly at a constant rhythm (about 1-2 times per second) (maintenance of arousal in E11).
- Rhythmic chewing exercise causes the secretion of “serotonin (the safety hormone)” from the brainstem, acting as a powerful buffer (cushioning material) to sedate excess tension (increased heart rate). It is a ritual to convert tension into moderate concentration.
3. During the Exam: Releasing the Clench (Relaxation)
When the exam begins and you face a difficult problem, you unconsciously hold your breath and clench your back teeth tightly. This constricts the blood vessels in the head, inviting a freeze in thinking due to hypoxia.
- Precisely when you panic thinking “I don’t know!”, be conscious of putting down your pen once, completely releasing the power in your jaw, and separating your upper and lower teeth by a few millimeters (creating a footloose state). With just that, the dammed-up blood flow will rush into your brain again.
To “demonstrate your usual ability,” it’s not about mental theories, but “physical management of the brain state” that is essential. On the morning of the exam, what separates your pass or fail is not cramming in the last line of a reference book, but “how thoroughly you moved your jaw muscles.”
Chew Better, Live Better.
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