Things We Learned on the MoSho: How to Get Rid of an Earworm

Today, while filling in for news, we all learned an easy trick to get rid of that earworm. We also learned that Nico doesn't have a bad singing voice as his earworm was the theme song to "The Nanny". An earworm, if you don't already know, is a catchy song or tune that runs continually through a person's mind. It's basically a song that's stuck in your head that you can't get rid of.

For instance, on the show, one song we like to get stuck in our listener's heads is "All Star" from Smash Mouth. You can't deny that once you hear the "SoMeBoDy!" it's instantly stuck in your head.

Well, if you're having this issue, there's a great hack for getting the song out of your head. This according to Australian scientist Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, who was asked on his radio show how to get rid of an earworm by a woman who had Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” stuck in her head. The hack? Chew gum.

Dr. Kruszelnicki revealed that chewing gum helps distract your brain revealing that for "some unknown reason the same pathways in your brain that are used for programming your repeated jaw movement are also used for replaying music in your mind."

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The doctor also suggest other methods like listening to the song non-stop, which I guess is a great way to get sick of the song. And another method he suggested was going cold turkey and not listening to the song again.

At the time we discussed it, I had completely forgotten that I had actually learned the gum trick on a show (of course). The show "Evil" (which if you haven't already seen this show, you should because it's really good!) has an episode in which students cannot for some reason cannot stop singing a song. The psychologist gives them gum to stop the singing but it's no use, and it's a strong indicator that evil forces are at work.

So, next time you find yourself with an earworm, just pop some gum.