You have probably seen it on your feed by now: someone staring into a camera, tongue out, holding the pose for exactly 40 seconds, then claiming to feel instantly calmer. It looks ridiculous, and yet thousands of people swear by it. The promise is irresistible – a near-effortless way to shut down stress on the spot. But before you try it in the middle of your next work meeting, it is worth asking whether the science actually holds up. Spoiler: experts say it does not, at least not the way you think.
Why the 40-second tongue trick went viral in the first place
The idea behind this social media trend is simple. You stick out your tongue for 40 seconds, and the physical act supposedly stops your stress response cold. The technique has become increasingly popular online, yet its exact origins are murky. More importantly, there is very little scientific data backing it up.
Michael G. Wetter, PsyD, ABPP, FAACP, a board-certified clinical psychologist, director of psychological services at UCLA-SMH, and founder of Wetter Psychological Services, has noted that this old theory is gaining traction on social media but lacks any real scientific evidence to support its efficacy. So why are so many people recommending it?
Cynthia Vejar, PhD, LPC, LSC/PPS, program director and associate professor of clinical mental health counseling at Lebanon Valley College, points to a plausible explanation. Some people do report a sense of relief from actions that interrupt stressful thought patterns and encourage awareness of the body – even when no rigorous research validates the specific method. In other words, the trick might feel like it works, but the mechanism is not unique to tongue-sticking.
What stress actually does to your body – and how interruption helps
When stress or anxiety hits, your sympathetic nervous system kicks in, triggering what is commonly called the fight-or-flight response. You start sweating. Your breathing speeds up. Your heart races. These are automatic reactions, and they feed on themselves: the more you notice them, the more anxious you feel.
Stress reduction techniques work precisely because they interrupt that loop. According to Wetter, sticking out the tongue functions as an unusual physical action that could counteract the cycle of anxious thinking and pull a person’s focus away from emotions and worry toward a new physical sensation. The technical term for this kind of redirection is grounding, a mindfulness approach that helps someone reconnect with the present moment.
Vejar explains the broader principle: activities that slow breathing, relax the muscles, or bring attention to physical sensations can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, essentially the body’s built-in calming mechanism. The tongue trick fits loosely into that category, but it is far from the most effective tool available.
Evidence-backed techniques that actually calm your nervous system
Both experts agree that other approaches carry stronger scientific support. Diaphragmatic breathing – breathing slowly so that the exhale is longer than the inhale – is one of the best-studied options. According to Wetter, this type of breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system and allows the body to calm down after being under a state of distress. It is quick, free, and you can do it anywhere without drawing attention to yourself.
Then there is the 5-4-3-2-1 approach, which Vejar highlights as another reliable method. It redirects your attention to the present by asking you to identify things you can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. The technique essentially forces your brain out of its anxious spiral and back into your immediate surroundings.
These mindfulness techniques are popular because they deliver measurable results. One smaller pilot study found that deep breathing, grounding, and body scan exercises all led to improvements in the stress response among study participants. That is more than the tongue trick can claim.
Wetter also emphasizes a broader point: stepping away from an automatic behavioral response tends to decrease your level of emotional stress and restore a greater feeling of control. The specific technique matters less than the act of consciously breaking the pattern. What works best for you may not work best for someone else, and that is perfectly fine.
The real takeaway for your next stressful moment
The 40-second tongue trick is not dangerous, and if it genuinely helps you pause and refocus, there is no harm in it. But it is not a scientifically supported shortcut to calm. What we do know is that grounding, diaphragmatic breathing, and sensory-based techniques like the 5-4-3-2-1 method have real evidence behind them. The next time anxiety creeps in, try a slow exhale that lasts longer than your inhale. Count five things you can see. Feel your feet on the floor. You are not looking for the single perfect hack – you are looking for whatever reliably breaks your fight-or-flight cycle and hands you back a sense of control.
