Why chewing gum on a flight keeps ears from popping
By Dan Kauna, July 25, 2026If you have ever been on a flight, you probably know the uncomfortable feeling. As the plane climbs into the sky or starts coming down for landing, your ears suddenly feel blocked, muffled, or even sharp with pain.
That feeling is medically known as airplane ear, and it happens to almost every traveller at some point.
Why altitude changes mess with your ears
To understand why your ears block, picture a tiny passageway called the Eustachian tube. This small tube runs from the back of your nose and throat to your middle ear.
Its main job is to keep the air pressure inside your ear balanced with the air pressure in the cabin around you.
When you are on the ground, that pressure stays equal easily. But when an airplane takes off, cabin pressure drops quickly, making the air trapped inside your middle ear expand.
When the plane descends, cabin pressure goes up, pushing your eardrum inward. If that tiny tube stays shut, pressure builds up fast, causing that painful, plugged feeling.
How chewing gum fixes the problem
Unwrapping a pack of chewing gum before takeoff is one of the easiest ways to stop that pain before it starts.
Chewing gum gets your saliva flowing, which forces you to swallow repeatedly. At the same time, moving your jaw back and forth works the muscles at the back of your throat.
These muscles pull open the Eustachian tube, letting air flow in and out so your eardrum can return to its normal position.
Explaining why this works, health researchers noted that “during take-off and landing chewing gum and swallowing activate the muscles that make patent the eustachian tubes bi-laterally.”
When those muscles engage, air pressure balances out, usually with a small pop that signals immediate relief.
Next time you fly out of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport or Wilson Airport, keep a pack of gum handy. Pop a piece into your mouth just before takeoff, and stay awake during descent so your natural swallowing reflex keeps ear pain away throughout your flight.