Yet Dr Brad McKay, a GP from Sydney, isn’t entirely convinced, telling online outlet Junkee: “Pressing on your thumb and chin to ‘switch off’ your gag reflex is basically an elaborate placebo, which may work as a mild distraction and trick some people into relaxing while they eat a banana. The academics administered force to all study participants using a worn hand pressure device, and their conclusion stated they managed to “introduce a treatment involving the simulation of a pressure point that consistently altered the gag reflex trigger”. The aforementioned 2008 study, carried out by three researchers at Miami University in Ohio, found that “the trigger point of the gag reflex moved posteriorly in all subjects as a result of pressure to the palm point”. “I literally just stuck my finger down my throat,” yelled a third, again in all caps.Ī fourth, meanwhile, was finding it all rather hilarious, writing: “Y’all this is called placebo effect and I’m crying at these comments.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletterĪnother commented: “Okay wait why did this actually turn off my gag reflex though?” “What it actually turned off my gag reflex,” wrote one user, in all caps. uploaded a video of her being able to put two fingers down her throat with the hashtag “#ItWorks”, while others took to Avery’s TikTok video to claim the strategy is successful. Afterwards, she said to squeeze “the skin in between your thumb and index finger” for an additional five seconds.Īnd apparently, some people have managed to stop themselves from gagging. Several users on the platform have amplified the theory, with claiming: “When you are squeezing your thumb, your brain is so focussed on the pressure that you’re creating in this area, that you forget about what’s going on here.”Ĭontent creator Avery Flynn also demonstrated the technique with a tutorial, explaining that individuals needed to squeeze their left thumb for five seconds and then press on their chin for five seconds at the same time. Useful to know when doing a Covid swab, I guess… “Overall the TikTok method is a safe, cheap, quick, easy, and totally useless therapy.Ever since it was first explored in a study back in 2008, there’s been talk about whether squeezing your thumb into a fist can ‘switch off’ your gag reflex – most recently on the short-form video platform, TikTok. “Pressing on your thumb and chin to ‘switch off’ your gag reflex, is basically an elaborate placebo, which may work as a mild distraction and trick some people into relaxing while they eat a banana,” Dr McKay told Junkee. However, Dr McKay says that the entire TikTok anti-gag method is just an elaborate placebo - that is, your brain simply convincing you something is working because you want it to. What if it’s not the action that makes your gag reflex go away but you believing that you won’t gag that leads you to not gagging The focus on placing pressure on another part of the body is said to help take your mind off your throat thus relaxing it. In 2011, LifeHacker reported that the thumb squeeze tactic can act as a distraction, as supported by a 2008 study. The method of using acupressure points - which are based on acupuncture points and the unproven theory of life force flowing through meridian lines - is not a new one. But this TikTok method relies on acupressure points to control the gag reflex. Research proves that states of anxiousness or calm can increase and decrease the intensity of your gag reflex due the physical reaction to an overstimulation of the nervous system. “You can’t turn off your gag reflex like a switch, but you can modulate it.” “Some people only have a weak gag reflex while others are hypersensitive,” Dr McKay told Junkee. The muscular contraction of one’s throat is the body’s way to prevent food or fluid entering our airways.ĭr Brad McKay explains that there’s variation in people’s gag reflex throughout the population. It’s an involuntary reaction of the body when something comes into contact with the roof, side or back of the throat. Sydney GP Dr Brad McKay spoke to Junkee about whether there was any truth in this TikTok trick - and essentially, no there isn’t.Įveryone has a gag reflex. This is the video /dzh40Gqrbfīut while those who tried the gag reflex hack believed that their gag reflex was suddenly switched off, what exactly is the science behind it? What Is A Gag Reflex And Can It Be Turned Off? Once people started sharing that the trick had actually worked for them, videos of the hack in action started popping up online.
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