Wellness culture has given us cold plunges, mouth taping, and supplements that cost more than a car payment. The latest entry is considerably less miserable. And all you need to do is give your pinky a little wiggle.

“Pinky time” started with a TikTok from creator Daniela Paez-Pumar, who films herself and friends running through a quick finger sequence every night at 7:45 p.m.—middle and pointer fingers wrapped together, ring fingers touching thumbs, pinkies moving up and down for a few seconds. The premise is that doing this daily can help slow cognitive decline. She paired the video with the caption: “No one is exempt from pinky time — we keep that brain HEALTHY.”

@dpaezpumar

No one is exempt from pinky time – we keep that brain HEALTHY (for 7-10 seconds on each side) @coripooh @404nnafound

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She’s not entirely wrong, though the science behind it deserves a little unpacking. Dr. Kelly Gonderman, a licensed clinical psychologist, told Bustle that attempting a new movement your body isn’t used to “lights up your motor cortex, cerebellum, and other areas of your noggin.” Pinky time falls into the category of fine motor tasks, which require coordination between muscles and joints and become harder to execute as the brain ages. “That cross-hemisphere coordination is genuinely good for the brain,” Gonderman said.

People Are Using ‘Pinky Time’ to Test Their Brain Health, Which Is Not Quite How This Works

Where things get trickier is the diagnostic claim floating around in the comments. Some creators suggest that struggling with the movement is a red flag for brain health. Gonderman disagrees. “Difficulty with a novel motor task can reflect lots of things: hand dominance, arthritis, practice, attention in that moment,” she said. Bombing the finger routine means you’re new to it, not necessarily that anything is wrong.

The bigger point, though, is that the underlying logic is legit. Challenging the brain through new physical skills and coordination exercises does support cognitive health over time. “Ten seconds of finger movement a day isn’t going to prevent Alzheimer’s on its own, but activities that challenge the brain through novelty and coordination are worth doing regularly,” Gonderman said. Juggling, learning an instrument, picking up a new language—all of it works on the same principle, promoting neuroplasticity and reinforcing brain pathways that don’t otherwise get much use.

About 1 in 10 older Americans is currently living with dementia. Researchers estimate 42% of adults over 55 will eventually develop it, and by 2060, the U.S. is projected to see roughly 1 million new diagnoses annually. If a few seconds of finger choreography on TikTok every night is part of the defense, why not?