Bizarre Mind-Blowing Health Tricks

Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast

Dr. Eric Berg

Health & Fitness

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Try out these weird health hacks that are actually backed by science!

1. Eating dark chocolate

A 2017 study found that dark chocolate can significantly lower blood pressure, decrease cortisol by 14%, and increase nitric oxide.

2. Humming while exhaling

Research has shown that humming while exhaling can significantly improve your sinuses. Humming while exhaling increases nitric oxide by 15 times, which can help you relax and lower your blood pressure.

3. Standing on one leg for 30 seconds

A 2014 study in the journal Stroke found that standing on one leg for 30 seconds increases gray matter volume, which includes the hippocampus. This can improve memory and increase cognitive scores by 13%.

4. Sniffing something

A 2013 study found that sniffing rosemary oil can increase cognitive function and memory by 18%. Three other studies found that sniffing lavender oil can significantly lower anxiety, improve mood, increase sleep quality, and decrease daytime sleepiness. Smelling peppermint oil can increase sustained attention, improve reaction time, and improve respiratory efficiency. It can also decrease tension headaches. Eucalyptus oil has the most potent effect on your respiratory centers. Smelling frankincense oil decreases neuroinflammation, directly improving memory and lowering anxiety.

5. Dry, warm socks

A 2018 study published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology found that wearing dry, warm socks to bed can increase sleep by 32 minutes and improve sleep quality.

6. Forest bathing

Walking in the forest for 20 to 30 minutes can boost immunity and provide tremendous stress relief. It increases natural killer cells, which fight cancer and viruses. Forest bathing can elevate mood, reduce blood pressure, and decrease cortisol by 27%.

7. Singing in the shower

Singing loudly in the shower for 5 to 10 minutes can boost immunity by 37%, decrease cortisol by 19%, and increase lung function by 14%.

Dr. Eric Berg DC Bio:

Dr. Berg, age 60, is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He is the author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan, and is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals. He no longer practices, but focuses on health education through social media.

Transcript

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0:00.0	bizarre, mind-blowing health tricks that are backed by science. The first one is dark chocolate.
0:06.6	When you start eating dark chocolate at 80% cacao, there's going to be a lot less sweeteners.
0:11.7	It borders on kind of bitter chocolate. This is from a study, 2017. A meta-analysis
0:17.5	showed that it can significantly decrease the systolic blood pressure and
0:22.0	diastolic blood pressure comparable to certain medications. Dark chocolate decreases cortisol by 14%.
0:28.7	That's the stress hormone. It's the flavonoids in the chocolate. It actually increases nitric oxide.
0:34.4	So that's going to lower blood pressure. Just realize that you don't want to take this
0:38.2	too late in the day because it has something similar to caffeine which can keep you up at night.
0:43.4	So I wouldn't have any past lunchtime. The next one is from the American Journal of
0:48.6	respiratory and critical care medicine. This trick significantly improves your sinuses. Increasing nitric oxide by 15 times,
0:58.2	nitric oxide gives you more oxygen. This activates the parasympathetic nervous system,
1:03.1	which will help relax you, lower your blood pressure, and it's basically the action of humming
1:07.5	while you're exhaling. So you sit or lie down somewhere, maybe on your bed. You inhale
1:12.7	through your nose very, very gradually. And then you exhale while you are humming. So you can feel
1:20.4	the vibration in your face and your chest. And you want to do this for several minutes, a few times a day.
1:26.1	I mean, this is pretty wild. Humming could actually help your sinuses by basically restricting the airflow in your sinuses,
1:32.8	which increases nitric oxide.
1:34.6	The third one is pretty wild because it just involves standing on one leg for 30 seconds,
1:41.0	and then you're going to stand on the other leg for 30 seconds.
1:43.4	You're practicing your
1:44.5	balance. And this is from a 2014 study in the journal stroke. And maybe you want to do this while
1:50.3	you're brushing your teeth or shaving or something like that. But what they found is it actually
	...

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