18 body hacks that seem 'crazy,' but real people swear by
Who knew that push-ups were good for stuffy noses!
Almost all of these have scientific backing!
You can always count on Reddit to be a treasure trove of various life hacks. From minimal effort meals to help through depression spells to genius decluttering strategies, these unique pieces of online advice from strangers can, surprisingly, bring fold together in a meaningful way.
This time, we’ve got a great list of crowdsourced body hacks—lesser known home remedies, helpful daily routines, and super simple tweaks that have helped real people transform their lives. Or at least earned them some extra zzzzs (something everybody seems to want more of these days).
Considering folks were prompted to name only their “craziest” body life hacks, some of these suggestions might sound…odd. And many might not have actual scientific backing, so of course we should take this anecdotal advice with a grain of salt (funny enough, that phrase itself comes from a potential “body hack” against poisoning, but I digress).
But still, you never know what seemingly crazy idea might be exactly what you need. And we promise, there is zero mention of using Mucinex to conceive.
So without further ado…
1. “If you feel light-headed as you stand up (orthostatic hypotension) you can squeeze any muscle as hard as you can and it will quickly raise your pulse and blood pressure so you don't black out and fall.”—u/Love2go
This tactic actually has an official name, The Applied Tension Technique, and was developed to help prevent people from fainting when donating blood, to lessen recovery time if someone did faint.
2. “When you brush your teeth, close your eyes and stand on one foot. Alternate feet. Your balance will improve a lot.” —u/theLaLiLuLeLol
3. “If you have lower back pain or sciatica try gluteus medius burnouts. Use a chair or table to steady yourself and raise one leg straight out to the side as high as you can and hold that until it feels like your hip is on fire and trying to cramp. Repeat on the other side. It sounds crazy but it can eliminate lower back pain instantly.”
—u/Evan_keir
Again, this is backed by experts. On its website, The Spine Institute of North America writes: “There can be many reasons your back hurts, from soft tissue strain to damaged joints, but one thing is for sure, strong muscles can help to support your spine. And your glutes are a critical component for a healthy lower back. It doesn’t matter how old you are or where you are in terms of your physical condition, there are simple things you can do to stretch and strengthen your glutes and hamstrings in order to help find sciatica pain relief.”
u/Doshyta, a physical therapist, happened to add:
“My experience treating low back pain is that most people with back pain are weak or bad at using their glutes, and that is a pretty strong driver of pain. Any sort of glute work (max and med/min) helps probably 60-70% of my low back people.”
4. “If you're prone to anxiety attacks, keep some really sour candies on hand. I normally take medication for anxiety attack onsets, but sometimes I forget to pack it. It works.”
While this one certainly seems a little out there, Toya Roberson-Moore, MD, associate medical director and psychiatrist at Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center, told Health “Sour candy shifts our attention quickly to the sense of taste, intensely, which in turn dampens our amygdala (the feeling part of the brain) and gives us better access to our frontal cerebral cortex (the thinking part of our brain).”
5. "Vagus Nerve Trick" for calming yourself down. If you're feeling super anxious or stressed, try splashing your face with cold water or holding an ice pack on your forehead and under your eyes for a few seconds. It activates your vagus nerve, which helps slow your heart rate and calm you down almost instantly. Thank me later.” —u/ChiefGallantry
This one was confirmed by a study held in 2002. Guess Wim Hoff is onto something.
6. “Stretching. Every morning when waking up. My grandpa taught me. He’s 94 now and still does everything as if he’s 50. He’s even able to run. Of course it’s also genetics, but a life filled with stretches every morning definitely doesn’t make your body worse, even if it’s just for a couple of minutes every morning!” –u/nigartmann
Nobody needs evidence of this. We all know we need to stretch more. But it’s a nice reminder WHY we need to.
7. “Putting on a fresh pair of socks can really improve your mood.”
—u/_geesegoose
For many, this little self care ritual is the ultimate midday boost.
8. “If you have a stuffy nose due to a cold or allergy, try doing push-ups, jumping jacks or any form of intense sudden activity. It's near-instant relief. I always get the exact mechanism wrong, but since stuffy noses happen due to swelling in the tissue of the nose, sudden activity promotes blood flow and drainage of mucus. It's temporary, of course, but worth a try.” —u/Loxagos_snake
Jamaica Hospital confirms that “exercises such as push-ups can provide quick relief by opening your nasal passages and reducing inflammation that may be affecting them.” However, that’s only with moderate symptoms affecting your nose, throat, or other parts of your head. Anything worse, and you should probably avoid the exertion.
9. “The 20-20-20 rule for eye strain. Every 20 mins. look away from your screen, focus on something 20 feet away, do this for at least 20 secs.” —u/DivineHeartMuse
According to a 2023 study posted in Pubmed, 20 seconds might not be enough time to offset myopia. Still, adding a break from screens into the work routine is very beneficial.
10. “To quickly relieve a cramping calf (usually happens while sleeping) stand on your feet. Feels counter intuitive, but standing up forces your leg muscles to stretch and stop the cramping.”
Mayo Clinic says that this can “ease a cramp in the back of the thigh too.” And for a front thigh cramp, “try pulling the foot on that leg up toward your buttock. Hold on to a chair to steady yourself.”
11. “So I just recently read that if you can't sleep, just start thinking up a dream in your head, and out you go. Some nights I have trouble sleeping, so I decided to give this a shot, thinking it was complete bullshit. But it works. That shit is like 'Cthulhu rose from the sea, so I grabbed my lingerie clad wife and kissed her deeply, 'ill be back in no time, babe.' I grab my helmet and head toward my modified F-22. I nod towards my wing man, call sign Beastman, who is a velociraptor, and we both climb into our zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz'” —u/Fappy_as_a_Clam
Below—another sleep hack…
12. “If you can't get a full night's sleep for any reason, aim for 3, 4.5, or 6h -- even if that means you get less sleep. Sleep isn't one big REM cycle. You go through a complete cycle every ~90min. In general, if you feel terrible when you wake up (and it's not due to being ill or a hangover or similar), it's because you forced yourself awake during the deeper parts of sleep. Aiming to wake up at the end of a REM cycle will leave you feeling more rested than if you had less sleep. This also applies to naps, by the way - it's better to either wake yourself up before or after the deeper REM sleep; which means naps should be either ~20min or ~90min; not anywhere in between. Ask anyone who says they feel terrible after naps how long they nap for; most of the time, they'll say "about an hour" - despite that being our standard unit of time, it's basically the worst length of nap imaginable.” —u/fredemu
13. "If you are bloated and alone, bend over and touch your toes for an extended period of time. additionally, get into child’s pose and rock back and fourth. You can also lay against a wall or couch with your feet up in the air. rotate between those three positions if you are by yourself and you should be significantly less bloated!” —u/keelykate77
If you don’t want to take this person’s word for it, or Medical News Today…I can also personally confirm. Would definitely recommend making sure your alone…for etiquette purposes.
14. “Use your hand to dry off in the shower like a squeegee before you use the towel. You will dry much faster.” —u/Actuaryba
Couldn’t find anything for this one. Guess we’ll all have to try it ourselves and report back.
15. “Okay, this sounds wild, but if you ever have a headache, try pinching the web between your thumb and index finger for a minute or two. It seriously helps relieve pain!” —u/nonamegirlfriend
This pressure point, known as LI-4 or Hegu (her-goo), is , in fact, used to help with pain and headaches.
16. “If you’re sick and pounding lots of water be sure to salt it a tiny bit. Otherwise you flush your electrolytes and get even sicker. Learned this from the ER staff when I had to be treated with IVs during a lengthy sickness.” —u/PeaceAlwaysAnOption
Yep, this is more than just a TikTok fad.
17. “Lasting cough that won't quit at the tail end of a cold/sore throat? Take Vicks vapor rub and heavily smear it on the bottoms of your feet and throw on socks. In minutes, the cough substantially subsides or goes away entirely. It's not science. It's magic.” —u/Cordeliaolin
GoodRx has a bit of a clapback with this one, saying “There's no evidence that putting Vicks VapoRub on your feet will relieve a cold, congestion, or cough. But it might help moisturize your heels and relieve toenail fungus.”
18. “If you're drunk and the room starts spinning, find a place to lay down that is against/near a wall (like a couch). Put a hand above you on the wall and the opposite foot down on the floor. The room immediately stops spinning. It's magical, but you will look a little silly. My aunt taught me this one haha!” —u/techXwitch
Looks like aunty knows best! While this process won't completely cure your spins, it will make your brain feel far less off-balance. But of course, maybe try to prevent the spins from happening in the first place.