We can all do some pretty weird things with our bodies. Some people can turn their eyelids inside out, others can roll or twist their tongues. Then you have some people who can gleek. No, this isn’t associated with being a fan of Glee, unfortunately.
It’s being able to spit saliva from under your tongue, a true talent indeed and it’s being made popular by TikTok.
This fascinating but gross trick is taking over TikTok. Only 35% of people can gleek whilst only 1% can on demand.
But, how do you actually do it? You have to apply pressure to your salivatory glands and shoot out salvia using them. It sounds simple but most people discover this superpower by accident through eating or yawning.
Thousands of tiny salivary glands are located in your mouth, amongst those are an extra pair of larger glands, the submandibular gland, and the sublingual gland. Both of which can be found at the bottom of your mouth.
These glands pump out saliva naturally and drain away the surplus when you eat. However, if you add more force on the glands and the tongue it adds more stress onto it which leads to the saliva shooting out and, voila you have officially gleeked.
If you want to increase your chances of gleeking you can try eating something sour like tart cherries, kimchi and vinegar. Sour foods can stimulate the salivary glands so you can gleek, Dr. Wolff, dean of the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Pennyslavannia, said in Health Magazine.
Drinking a lot of water can help you gleek as it hydrates your body whilst creating sufficient amounts of saliva. After you’ve done this, push your tongue out of your mouth and lift it. Curl the tip of your tongue backwards whilst resting it behind your top front teeth.
Would you try to gleek?