TikTok is packed with questionable health trends, but there’s a new one swirling around that might actually be worth trying. It involves waking up in the morning and jumping 50 times—that’s it. People swear it does everything from reduce bloat and fatigue to lower your blood pressure, and some say it even makes them feel more joyful.
The concept seems to have started with Kathryn Smith, who is a trainer who helps with surgeries. “I’m a lazy person by nature,” she said in a July TikTok video, noting that it’s taken “baby steps” for her to be more active. One way she did it? By what she calls “morning jumping.”
“When I get out of bed, my feet touch the ground, I jump 50 times,” she said. “What does your brain require first thing in the morning? Oxygen. How do you increase oxygen to your brain? Blood flow. How do you increase your blood flow? Increase your heart rate. Jump up and down.” She also noted that this can be good for lymphatic drainage and bone density. “If you have the ability to jump, you should do it every day,” she said.
Since then, plenty of other people have shared videos of themselves jumping up and down, and they seem pretty happy about it. TikTok poster @tvroomie has been doing this for weeks, and calls the act “life-changing.” She shared in a later post that jumping up and down each day “brings me joy.”
Fellow poster @chisaspam_ has been sharing updates on her journey with jumping daily, noting that she’s “actually starting to see a difference in my body.”
These are some big claims for something that seems easy to pull off. But doctors and a fitness trainer say morning jumping is a fitness hack worth trying. Here’s why.
How jumping can impact your health
Even though it’s suddenly popular, jumping up and down isn’t a new thing, per se. “This is essentially glorified jump roping,” Eric Ascher, DO, family medicine physician at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital, tells SELF. “But we know that jumping and jumping rope are wonderful means of managing blood pressure, fatigue, and bloating.”
Jumping can raise your heart rate, along with elevate your body temperature and increase blood flow and fluid movement in the body, Steven K. Malin, PhD, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, tells SELF. “The higher body temperature helps along with increased blood and fluid movement to loosen joints, tendons, and muscles for flexibility,” he says. Moving your body can also help with getting your lymphatic system moving, which can help remove waste from your body, Dr. Ascher says.