Don’t chew with your mouth open! It’s what my (and yours probably unless you are Bruce Wayne) parents always told me, especially because they didn’t want to hear it. But maybe if we would have known this official science news, we could have replied with:
“NO YOU ARE A PSYCHOPATH!”
I mean probably wouldn’t have ended well but would have been a good story to tell now! If we would have known we could have gotten them taken care of, but now they might have a real psychiatric disorder.
It seems that they were right in their intentions to curb your loud chewing habits, because researchers at Newcastle University have determined this leads to a psychiatric disorder in the people listening.
These scientists have said that people suffering from Misophonia showed changes in brain activity during scans.
Now what exactly is Misophonia? Harvard has defined it as:
People with misophonia are affected emotionally by common sounds — usually those made by others, and usually ones that other people don’t pay attention to. The examples above (breathing, yawning, or chewing) create a fight-or-flight response that triggers anger and a desire to escape.
Misophonia was classified as an actual disorder back in 2001, but the new study published in Current Biology has expounded on the previous study and found some interesting tendencies.
Their very sciencey conclusion said:
Overall, our data show that for misophonics, trigger sounds cause hyperactivity of AIC and an abnormal functional connectivity of this region with medial frontal, medial parietal, and temporal regions; that there is abnormal myelination in medial frontal cortex that shows abnormal functional connectivity to AIC; and that the aberrant neural response mediates the emotional coloring and physiological arousal that accompany misophonic experiences.
So what exactly does that mean?
Basically, people that suffer from Misophonia will go a little crazy after hearing sounds such as pen-clicking, loud chewing and small tidbit sounds like that.
When testing, scientists categorized three different soundscapes. One was neutral, which consisted of a busy café, water boiling or rain. The next was unpleasant sounds (for the general public) which was things like babies crying. Then the third was the trigger sounds such as the aforementioned loudly eating or breathing.
So what can you do about this disorder if you suffer from it? Well it doesn’t seem like they have that in their study. So I have some non-science advice for you!
1. Don’t go to any ramen restaurants, that might just be a living hell for you!
2. Also any buffet you go to will have at least 17 loud, messy and honestly disgusting eaters so avoid those at all cost…
3. If you do find yourself in a loud eating/chewing/breathing situation, carry a pair of headphones with you always.
4. Have a list of excuses ready for when you find yourself in a misophonia situation so you don’t become a psychopath. Here’s a few of my favorites.
– My pet hamster needs to be fed, I must go home.
– I don’t want to be late for my appointment…in bed…at home…
– Please excuse me, I’ve forgotten to share a politically charged image on Facebook
Anddd finally #5…DEEP BREATHS!
If you can’t get out of your misophonia situation you might just have to meditate for a little so you don’t destroy your loud chewing friend.
Header Image Via: Image Via Youtube & White Chicks