'Disgusting' bodily function called 'gleeking' is trending on TikTok and people didn't realize they could do it

We're not here to judge, but most will agree there are some pretty 'disgusting' trends taking over TikTok.

If you thought cooking a raw chicken inside a pumpkin and #scalppopping videos were gross, others like 'chroming' can be deadly.

TikTok has even been forced to pay out due to deaths related to some of its viral trends.

While not thought to be harmful to your health, the 'gleeking' challenge is one that's particularly gross.

Don't worry if you haven't heard of gleeking because plenty of TikTok users haven't.

Gleeking tends to occur when you accidentally apply pressure to the sublingual or submandibular glands in your mouth and 'squirt' saliva.

This can happen when you're eating, talking, or yawning, and while it's possible to train yourselves to 'gleek', it's not a common occurrence.

In one viral video, therealtiktokdoc explains how gleeking works and claims that only 35% of the population can do it. More than that, he added that only 1% of people can gleek on command.

The sublingual and submandibular glands are located under the tongue and produce saliva to aid eating and swallowing. Of course, they can also be used to make it look like you're shooting venom like a snake.

Responding to the video, onlookers were both horrified and fascinated in equal measure.

One wrote: "I'm pretty sure everyone who watched this video was trying it. Including me lol."

Another added: "I did this as a kid. In my head I was part cobra 😅."

Worryingly, someone else concluded: "My brothers used to gleek on me as a kid 😤."

If you're wondering where the 'gleeking' comes from, there's no real reason why it's called that.

Speaking to Health.com, Mark S. Wolff, DDS, PhD, dean of the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, explained: "There's nothing medical about it. But there's nothing harmful about it.

“If you tense the muscles in the tongue right, it squeezes the duct and saliva squirts right out."

A 2019 study found that one participant started producing extra saliva six weeks after getting Botox injections near their salivary glands and was 'gleeking' from their right parotid gland.

If you want to try and train yourself to gleek, Wolff suggested eating sour foods like tart cherries, kimchi, or vinegar to stimulate your salivary glands.

To practice, you're supposed to push your tongue out of your mouth and then lift it up. Curl your tongue back so the tip rests behind your top teeth, then tense the tongue's muscles to squeeze the sublingual gland.

Before you know it, you could be going viral on TikTok and be the best 'Gleek' around - and no, we don't mean starring in a reboot of Ryan Murphy's Glee.