Chewing different materials affects the brain and a new study found that chewing on wood (wooden tongue depressors), compared to chewing gum, led to a significant increase in a natural brain antioxidant called glutathione, and better performance on memory tasks.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/chewing-wood-may-boost-memory-and-brain-antioxidants-study-finds/

[u/Lexinoz]

It's a self stimming/calming method that many do. You were just acting on instinct.
The worse part is when grown ups don't know the logic behind this and force you to stop, worsening your grades and setting you on a downward spiral of school work.

[u/[deleted] → u/Lexinoz]

Yeah my teachers always stopped me from doing that or doodling too, which apparently also helps with learning too.

[u/privacyplease27 → u/[deleted]]

I believe doodling can also help with concentration.

[u/JonatasA → u/[deleted]]

I was forced to write in cursive. Curse that.

 

No wonder my hand writing was so bad.

 

It got better after I left school. The irony.

[u/eddgreat9 → u/Lexinoz]

Also, stimming is in response to the wiring of ADHD brains which lack the proper balance of the hormone dopamine. Dopamine is needed to focus, perform routine tasks, emotion regulation. Stimming (and chewing as it can be a form of stimming for some) is essentially the brains process of attempting to properly produce the correct dopamine balance in your brain to focus on that thought or task your doing.

[u/MutantCreature → u/Lexinoz]

I mean it's still not a good idea to chew on stuff that isn't intended to be chewed on. Ingesting paint, plastic, and damaging your teeth on hard materials (ie metal clips or eraser holders) is not good, if anything maybe offering a safer alternative would be a better response than stopping it entirely but that could be hard to implement.