Do you have one pupil smaller than the other? Here’s what it can mean – breaking latest news

Look in the mirror: are the pupils of your eyes the same width? The pupils are the black hole in the center of the iris (the colored crown which can be brown, blue, green or purple). If one pupil appears smaller than the other in diffuse light, you may have detected a sign.

Unequal pupils

The difference in pupil diameter

between one eye and the other is called anisocoria and can be index of many diseases, but it may not mean anything given that up to 30% of people have differences of 1 millimeter between one pupil and another: the so-called physiological anisocoria which remains more or less constant and generally does not give cause for concern. The novelty that researchers from the Irccs Fondazione Stella Maris and the University of Pisa directed by Diego Manzoni have published in Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience a study according to which this pupillary difference can become a useful signal to prevent a possible cognitive decline. For this purpose it could be useful to adopt a particular chewing style.

Chewing reduces stress

This is suggested by the results of the research in question, reaffirmed at a The Lancet Summit last year. The most important advice take good care of the teeth on the side with the smallest pupil so that they can chew correctly and always alternate chewing sides: the part with the smallest pupil must always be effective because it will be the main architect of prevention. The Italian study follows a long series of researches which in recent years have demonstrated theanti-aging effect of good chewing. However, even the most recent ones speak of it only as a stimulus that strengthens memory by reducing stress, which thus does not interfere with the mnemonic mechanisms managed by the hippocampus, the small seahorse-shaped area that acts as a hub for learning and memory. If memory and storage of memories improve in the absence of stress, it would also explain everyday banalities such as why chewing gum is relaxing and increases concentration.

Prefer the weak side

However, no one had so far realized that the anti-aging effect of chewing is more effective if you make the most of it the hypotonic side of the mouth. Hypotonia means muscle weakness: also the colored iris that surrounds the pupil is a small circular muscle which, like the diaphragm of a camera lens, widens or narrows the pupil depending on the light. But in the event of incorrect chewing, the pupil does not narrow due to an impulse from the centers responsible for regulating muscle tone, the so-called ARAS areas, an acronym for Ascending Reticular Activating System of the reticular substance, a group of neurons located at the level of the skull base. Why do ARAS send this impulse? Their task is to maintain balanced chewing, which they adjust based on the information received from the masticatory muscles. Many people develop incorrect chewing habits favoring one side of the mouth and so the ARAS try to rebalance the situation by sending impulses to the opposite side which chews little. In their nervous tsunami the muscles that regulate the muscles of the ocular iris on that side also end up being involved and so the pupil narrows. the signal that chewing is reduced and for a full anti-aging effect of chewing we need to insist on that side until the pupils are in balance.

What does the difference mean

The pupil acts as a compass, but, using electromyography, the Pisan researchers went to verify the electrical activity which from the masticatory muscles goes to the ARAS areas through the trigeminal nerve, discovering that among them there is one fundamental for this effect: the so-called locus coeruleus. Today we know that its bluish color derives from the abundance of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine which increases heart rate and contraction, pressure and, coincidentally, also acts on the pupil The neurophysiological basis of anisocoria — explains Vincenzo De Cicco of the Irccs Stella Maris Foundation in Pisa — can be traced back to the locus coeruleus: we have one on the right and one on the left. If there is functional asymmetry between them, the functioning of the hemisphere will also be unbalanced brain on which each locus coeruleus projects its own nerve bundles: anisocoria is only the most evident sign.

Memory may suffer

As various studies indicate, among other things, the hippocampus is also affected
fundamental area in the memory and learning. If the pupils are anisochoric, it means they can be there functional asymmetries between the two cerebral hemispheres with cognitive, motor or behavioral effects. a bit like driving the car with a flat tire. Research by the Physiology Department of the University of Pisa has shown that the reduction of muscular asymmetries in the mouth, made evident by the reduction of pupil anisocoria, improves attentional and cognitive performance.