Our bodies can do some pretty impressive things. When I was younger, I could place one foot at the back of my head, and I had a friend who could make impossible sounds with her mouth.
But besides the cool tricks, the human body hides a lot of hidden secrets. Every now and then, you discover something that you don’t know how you got so far without it. For example, taking a nap on the floor for a couple of minutes helps me with my back pains.
TikTok user oligiaboosh sparked an interesting conversation after sharing her own “human body cheat codes.” Her post encouraged people to share their own unusual tricks, with over 100k likes and more than 3k comments. It’s just amazing how many strange things the human body can apparently do.
#1
if you want to fall asleep but are struggling, think of a random word (ideally not related to your emotions or your life that day). then go through and for each letter of your chosen word think of as many other words that start with this letter as you can. i have never got past the second letter of the original word
Image source: jen 🇵🇸, diana.grytsku
#2
if you hate everyone, you need to eat. if you think everyone hates you, you need to sleep
Image source: peter of the griffin variety, karlyukav
The conversation around these “body cheat codes” is fascinating because the idea behind some of them has a name: reflexology.
Hand reflexology focuses on specific points in the hands and fingers, which practitioners connect with different areas of the body. The TikToker’s thumb-and-index-finger trick fits right into that tradition.
#3
when you feel the need to vomit coming on and your mouth starts to flood with saliva, DONT TRY TO SWALLOW IT. Spit it out immediately. Keep spitting until the salivating stops. 9/10 the wave of nausea passes and i never throw up.
Image source: Doodles, The Yuri Arcurs Collection
#4
Eat an apple before a car ride and it helps stop car sickness
Image source: Jennifer, magnific
Hands aren’t the only place reflexology looks for these connections. Foot reflexology focuses on points across the feet, linking different areas to parts of the body. Researchers have studied the practice for decades, and publications on foot reflexology have steadily increased since the 1990s.
#5
Sleeping on the floor with a thin mat will help alleviate pelvic tilt and lower back pain. There’s a girl I saw on this app, that swears sleeping on the floor keeps her fit.
Image source: tennesseejill, nensuria
#6
do not, and i repeat, DO NOT trust how you feel about yourself or life after 9pm. this has saved me SO many times.
Image source: alex 🪽 | norse pagan witch 🌿, magnific
Reflexology generally involves applying pressure or massage to specific points on the hands or feet. These techniques work as complementary care, often with relaxation and well-being in mind. Research continues to examine where reflexology might help and how much of its reported effects come from the treatment itself.
#7
When you’re super congested and can’t breathe, tilt your head back, open your mouth, and pull one of your ear lobes down. You’ll feel your sinuses start to drain, it’s only temporary relief but I FREAK out when I can’t breathe through my nose so this is a life saver for me
Image source: itskat9701, katemangostar
#8
When you suddenly feel anxiety, impending dread or intense stress or fear start patting yourself. Just like when moms pat their babies on the back when they’re holding them. Just pat yourself, your back, your chest, your legs, your arms. It will regulate your nervous system and calm you down. This got me through severe OCD and severe panic attacks before I got on medication.
#9
i have persistent year-round allergies so when i want to stop a sneeze attack, i press the side of my finger under my nose/above my top lip and it gets rid of the sensation of needing to sneeze
Image source: ♡jojo♡, Stockimages
The human body has plenty of other traditions built around these kinds of connections. The most famous is probably Acupuncture, which originated in traditional Chinese medicine, using fine needles at specific points on the body to trigger a reaction.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health points out that researchers suggest acupuncture may affect the nervous system and can help with several types of pain, including back, neck, and knee pain.
#10
Hug yourself and put your hands on your chest for a while every day. Makes you feel better.
#11
if you stand up too fast and get dizzy you can just clench your b**t and it goes away
Image source: unicycleboss26, kolesnikovsergii
#12
If you feel anxiety coming on, tell yourself “nah we don’t do that anymore”. You would be surprised how much it helps
Image source: BD Jimmy, magnific
People also increasingly turn to complementary approaches when managing discomfort. Data shows that among people using complementary health approaches, the share who reported using them for pain management rose from 42.3% in 2002 to 49.2% in 2022.
#13
If you repeat something over and over in your head for two weeks to a month your brain will believe it. That’s how I stopped drinking soda
Image source: pxnkplague, Stockbusters
#14
if you have a foot cramp or charlie horse, i grab my big toe and i pull it as far as i can toward my knee, and it immediately goes away
Image source: Morbid, Drazen Zigic
#15
Naps reset strong emotions for me. I’ll nap for 20-40 minutes after feeling very down and I’ll wake up feeling so much lighter. I don’t know why.
Image source: KittyKatty, magnific
The TikTok comments also point toward another surprisingly accessible tool called cyclic sighing, a technique that uses two inhales followed by a long, slow exhale. Stanford researchers found that five minutes of daily practice reduced anxiety and improved mood in a randomized study of healthy adults.
#16
food, sleep, and socialization are the pinnacles of mental health. if you feel bad, check your sim stats first!!!
Image source: Vinnie, The Sims 4
#17
if you have extreme muscle soreness for days after going to the gym or doing a crazy amount of exercise, take an ice bath. your body will thank you.
Image source: A-Drizzle, Drazen Zigic
#18
When I’m feeling depressed I start scream singing and dancing until it hurts. It works!
Image source: Baked_Botanist, benzoix
Neuroscientist Daya Grant, PhD, explains why breathing can influence more than just the lungs. The brainstem controls breathing automatically, but people can consciously change their breathing.
Grant also notes that attention to the breath can reduce amygdala activation, linking breathing with systems involved in fear and emotional responses.
#19
When you first wake up, lift one leg in the air at a time and rotate your ankles. Get the blood pumping. You be so much more ready to get up
Image source: Andrea Vance Heiss, yanalya
#20
If you think to yourself multiple times “wake me up at 7am” before you fall asleep, you’ll usually actually wake up around 7am
Image source: ma✞y 🇺🇸🗽 (ɢᴏᴅ ʟᴏᴠᴇꜱ ʏᴏᴜ 🫵), Solving Healthcare
#21
Close your mouth, pinch your nose airtight and blow “through” your nose; you can unblock your ears this way. But if you’re sick and have snot, be careful since this can hurt so do it while relatively healthy (on a plane, car, etc). Also, blowing out in this way can also open up your nostrils very temporarily
Image source: SelfRave, Towfiqu barbhuiya
Some tricks come from long-standing complementary practices, while others involve simple ways of controlling an automatic body function. The science varies from technique to technique, so an interesting claim online doesn’t automatically make it a proven treatment.
Still, the appeal is easy to understand. Either way, the human body clearly has a few more surprises up its sleeve.
Have you discovered any unusual tricks that work for you? Share your thoughts in the comments!
#22
It s***s but unfortunately exercising and eating regularly does help ur mental health immensely and isn’t very hard to maintain once you get a routine 💔😔
#23
if you’re having a Anxiety moment tense all the muscles in your body for 30 seconds and release. it tricks your brain into thinking you escaped the danger
Image source: microwave (SHE/HER), Drazen Zigic
#24
if you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back asleep, i always do the trick of moving your eyes around (with your eyelids closed) – i go up, down, left, right, in a circle, and then cross them. i think it like stimulates REM eye movements and convinces ur brain you’re still asleep and it works literally like 95% of the time!!!
Image source: michele ‼️, magnific
#25
Sometimes I can gaslight myself into not feeling a pain anymore by convincing myself it’s not a pain, it’s a totally different sensation that my brain is unfamiliar with and so it assigned “pain” to it. I’ll have to dissect my thoughts and really think about how it feels and think things like, “See? It doesn’t feel the same as pain when you really try to feel it.”
Image source: TheSarahGothamDeserves, EmilyStock
#26
Breathe in as much as you can and then take another sharp breath on top of that to instantly stop a panic attack from happening. 🙂↕️🙂↕️it won’t stop the actual panic but it’ll stop the physical response for a little while
Image source: B 🧿, MART PRODUCTION
#27
halt.. hungry angry lonely tired.. don’t make any big decisions if you catch yourself feeling any of these. pause and give yourself time..a snack..a nap.. hold ice in your hands
Image source: Becca
#28
If you’re ever internally shaking/trembling, stick out your tongue!! Also helps in labor
Image source: danielle357, Getty Images
#29
I hum to prevent horrible gagging when I brush my teeth first thing in the morning
Image source: 💚🐢Turtle tank 🐢💚
#30
My husband pointed out a few years ago that before i fall asleep my leg twitches, so sometimes when i cant sleep i twitch my own leg to try to trick my body into falling sleep. Its worked so far
Image source: kay.cee762, Andrej Lišakov
#31
ice pack on your chest (vagus nerve) to alleviate anxiety has worked for me. Also!! Scratching my ear when I have an itch in the back of my throat that I can’t get to. Don’t ask me how that works
Image source: kate.would.never, amenic181
#32
You know the feeling when you wake up in the middle of the night and it’s not time for you to wake up yet? and you’re like yessss I can go back to sleep for so much longer. I used to set an alarm for like 330 and 630 when I had to be up. I tricked my mind every morning and it helped me wake up better!
Image source: itsvan3ssaaa, Getty Images
#33
lay on your left side when you have heartburn
Image source: slay
#34
smelling the world’s most potent mint oil has helped so much with stuffed noses for me. idk where to get that stuff though, my dad showed this to me.
Image source: ⋆⊹ ˖｡°✩⋆Mud/Mars⋆⭒˚.⋆｡⊹ ࣪ ˖*
#35
Breathing exercises and drinking water can help you stop crying, plugging your nose can help you not to sneeze, and putting your foot flat on a cold surface can alleviate the pain from/completely stop those calf cramps.
Image source: Astro [Fanders plz interact:3]
#36
For hiccups I take a deep breath and hold it (pinch your nose if you have to) and then trying to drink as much water as I can. Fixes it 9/10 times!
Image source: Hawthorn
#37
If you get brain freeze when eating ice cream, press your thumb in the soft palette in your mouth.
Image source: Brandywine435
#38
If you have a stomach ache rub your stomach in circles. it massages it and helps with the pain
Image source: ash ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!
#39
Mine is a trick to calm my anxiety. It’s called the physiological sigh. Take a quick double inhale through the nose, hold it and then breathe out slowly. It mimics the way we’ll gasp when crying or in distress and it’s a way for the body to self soothe.
Image source: Aria.I.L, lookstudio
#40
if someone has hiccups say “oh you have hiccups? prove it” then stare them out. it works about 95% of the time
Image source: givesyouHel, tania12061997
#41
Saw a tiktok that said back in the day soldiers use to picture the color gray in order to fall asleep during the war & that it works. I tried it & do it every night to fall asleep now!
Image source: ., Like a Boss
#42
if you don’t wanna exercise just play just dance
Image source: Cabra 🌸commissions open🌸
#43
My most used hack is ACHOO syndrome. I can force myself to sneeze by looking into light or just looking up at the ceiling at a certain angle.
Image source: Burger_Enjoyer
#44
i personally like to ‘weaponize’ my adhd. like when i feel like spiraling i start quickly thinking about other things until one of them sticks and i forget about the bad topic. something ragebaiting helps the best — i’d rather be annoyed than stressed
Image source: Eloza
#45
Don’t make a permanent decision due to a temporary emotion! And nothing good ever happens after 3am!
Image source: krystol ☀︎︎
#46
Sometimes if I stub my toe, and I yell profain things at the thing I stubbed my toe on, it doesn’t make anything feel better but it feels appropriate in that moment.
Image source: Maverick
#47
I tell myself “i am not a fish” when i have hiccups
Image source: dari
#48
Pulling my hair helps with migraines
Image source: Luna
#49
If you wake up with neck pain, tug and rub the top of your ears for like 2 min.
Image source: Jaz
#50
Not necessarily a cheat code but ladies absolutely take cranberry pills daily or at least often. It has kept my ph and overall feeling of myself down there 10000x times better
Image source: jillie.q
#51
if u stand up and get light head and things go black, flex ur abs. sends the blood back up i guess lol
Image source: Luke Davis
#52
Move your eyes left up right down repeatedly when you can’t fall asleep lol I use it to go back to sleep and it’s worked well for me 🤷🏻♀️I use to wake up at 4 to pee and stay up until my alarm
Image source: CL
#53
eat peanut butter to get rid of hiccups! but you have to eat it slowly and really focus on the texture of the peanut butter in your mouth. this has worked for me like the majority of the time!!!!
Image source: meowzerz ^. .^₎Ⳋ
#54
when im having a bad panic attack I eat aomething extra spicy. takea the mind off the attack. lol
Image source: Ms Manzano
#55
My friend used to say if you get really tired suddenly in the middle of the day you’re probably just hungry or thirsty. Works most of the time.
Image source: Helmtogo
#56
If you’re in a quiet room like a meeting and hungry and stomach starts growling, massage your ear lobe. It doesn’t make me feel full but it quiets my stomach. 🤷🏻♀️I don’t even remember where i heard it but it works 99% of the time for me.
Image source: Victoria
#57
Fighting depression can make it louder. I treat her like she’s her own being. I talk to her and tell her she’s being ridiculous, and it helps ground me a lil bit and gives me the ability to almost see my patterns from a larger distance so I can talk myself through things. Obviously this does not apply to grief and the like, but I live with MDD without psychotic features and this tool has helped me often
Image source: Carol
#58
I worked with a neurologist and he told me if you are nauseated – AND having dry heaves – HUM!! Apparently the nausea and hum act are in the same nerve path and motor trumps sensory and it will stop nausea and dry heaves- I have tried it successfully!!!
Image source: Heather Torres
#59
I have a bad habit of reliving embarrassing moments when I’m lying in bed at night, and I found that repeating “and I don’t give a f**k” in my head helps me feel less embarrassed lol
#60
if you’re in a really s****y mood do a quick evaluation – have I slept/eaten enough, have I drunk enough water, have I have any human contact from friends/family/support system in the last few days and have I moved my body in a way I’m able. AND if you menstruate check if you’re due on. 90% of the time im in a vile mood one or more of the above are affected 😂
Image source: pasta, user21155762
#61
If you get motion sick in the car, roll down your window a bit and stick your fingers out of it. Your nausea will disappear. Someone told me this decades ago and it works for me!
Image source: Kris, dimaberlin
#62
when I’m about to have an anxiety attack, I get as low as I can on the ground and crawl, it forces me to breathe and reset my nervous system, you might look like a freak, but if you’re in your own home it does help.
Image source: 🌸F
#63
Doing the Curtis method and also Jefferson curls has borderline cured my lower back pain and sciatic nerve pain!
Image source: Haleypatriciaart
#64
take advantage of the fact that we are physiologically programmed to calm down when squeezed or placed under pressure. if you don’t have one, a weighted blanket can do a whole lot for anxiety and physiological regulation. You can also mess with the mammalian diving reflex to settle racing anxiety too.
Image source: Corvus
#65
if you keep losing where you put your phone or keys or whatever, get into the habit of saying “i am putting my phone down” out loud to yourself. you can also add location but simply just vocalizing it will help your memory
Image source: emmy
#66
When you’re upset and can’t stop reliving a situation, I list every color I can think of. I mean every color. By the time I run out of colors, I’ve stopped thinking about the upsetting thoughts.
Image source: Heather
#67
If you have pain in your right knee you’re operating out of your ego in regards to an action you’re taking, if it’s your left knee, your ego is taking over your thoughts….. right (outside the body/doing/action) left (inner thoughts/ change your perception/ change your thoughts)
Image source: keadadiva
#68
Idk if I’ll explain this right but breathe through your nose back like toward the back of your skull, instead of up through your nose… it feels like such a deeper breath
Image source: yorkadork
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