People attempt many tools to help them concentrate, coffee, herbal supplements such as ginkgo biloba, meditation or just getting a restful sleep.

A study out of the University of Cardiff shows that there may be another way to boost concentration by chewing gum. Researchers found that on tasks that require constant engagement for a long time, chewing gum helped in focus.

"It's been well established by previous research that chewing gum can benefit some areas of cognition. In our study we focussed on an audio task that involved short-term memory recall to see if chewing gum would improve concentration; especially in the latter stages of the task." said Kate Morgan.

Researchers divided 38 people in to two groups, half allowed to chew gum and the other half not. During half an hour random numbers between 1 and 9 were read aloud. Participants were required to take note when there was a combination that consisted of numbers that were odd-even-odd, such as 5-8-1.

Participants who didn't chew gum started off the test better than those chewing gum by things changed from there. Interestingly, researchers found that those chewing gum by the end not only had more accurate answers, but they had faster response times.

"Interestingly, participants who didn't chew gum performed slightly better at the beginning of the task but were overtaken by the end," Ms. Morgan said in a press release. "This suggests that chewing gum helps us focus on tasks that require continuous monitoring over a longer amount of time."

The research was published in the British Journal of Psychology can be found here.