If You’re Feeling Sour About Bar Prep, Try a Warhead

Sour candy and the bar exam don’t exactly scream “perfect pair.”

But there is a growing brain science that says sour candy can help dial down anxiety in the moment. And that’s something every bar taker should care about.

Let’s talk about what’s going on, how you can responsibly use it during bar prep, and what to do on exam day when you can’t plop a bag of Warheads on your exam table.

How Sour Candy for Anxiety Actually Works

Yep. This isn’t just TikTok magic.

Therapists and psychiatrists have explained that intensely sour candy can act as a short-term “interrupt” for anxiety or panic. The shock of the flavor grabs your attention and pulls you out of the mental spiral, similar to some skills used in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for distress tolerance and grounding.

Several anxiety-focused resources now mention sour candy alongside other “intense sensory” strategies (like holding ice, drinking very cold water, or using strong smells) to help ground people back in the present moment during a spike of panic.

Important note: Nobody is saying sour candy “cures” anxiety. It’s a tool and not a treatment plan. Think “emergency brake” instead of “new engine.”

How a Tiny Piece of Candy Can Help

Here’s the basic idea, in plain English:

Anxiety hijacks your brain.When anxiety spikes, your body flips into “fight, flight, or freeze.” Thought spirals kick in: I’m going to fail the bar. Everyone else is more prepared. This one practice test means I’m doomed.

Sour candy creates a new “mini emergency.” That first hit of extreme sour lights up your taste buds and facial muscles. Your cheeks pucker. Your eyes squeeze. Your attention is forced out of the worry loop and into what’s happening right now in your mouth. Therapists describe this as creating a competing sensory “emergency” that steals focus from the panic.

Your senses are directly wired to emotional circuits.Research on taste and smell shows that they connect strongly to the brain’s emotional and attentional systems, like the insula and other regions involved in processing both taste and feelings. Some imaging studies suggest that sour tastes, in particular, can ramp up activity in regions tied to attention and cognitive control, thereby nudging the brain to reorient and focus.

Put simply: The sour jolt yanks you back into your body and out of the “what if” movie playing in your head.

Again, this is short-term relief rather than a long-term treatment. It’s one more tool in the coping toolbox and not a substitute for therapy, medication, or a solid mental-health plan.

How Sour Candy Can Help Law Students and Bar Takers

Think of how many times during bar prep you’ve felt that familiar stomach drop:

• You open a practice MBE set and score 40%.

• You read a sample essay answer and feel like the drafter is a different species.

• You’re sure that one bad practice exam is going to result in failing the real bar exam.

Those moments are often less about knowledge and more about anxiety misfiring. If you can interrupt that anxiety before it takes over, you give yourself a chance to:

• Re-engage with the material instead of doom-scrolling your thoughts.

• Salvage the rest of your study block rather than losing the whole day.

• Practice staying steady under stress, which is exactly what you need for bar week.

Sour candy can be one of those “interrupt” tools while you’re studying or doing practice exams at home. It gives you something concrete and immediate to focus on while your nervous system calms down.

Photo by Yes and Studio on Unsplash

How to Use Sour Candy During Bar Prep (Not as a Meal Plan)

Here’s one way to build this into your bar prep in a structured way:

Step 1: Set a “Sour Threshold.” Decide in advance: If my anxiety hits a 7/10 or higher while I’m studying, I’ll try my sour-candy reset. That way you’re using it intentionally, not constantly snacking.

Step 2: Do a 60 to 90 Second “Sour Reset.” Pop one sour candy in your mouth. For one minute, your only job is to notice: How does it taste? Where do I feel it? How does my face react? When does the sour fade to sweet? Pair it with slower breathing (e.g., inhale for 4, exhale for 6).

You’re not trying to think positive thoughts yet. You’re just letting the “sensory shock” do its job while your nervous system steps down a notch.

Step 3: Add a Study Re-Entry Script. Once the intensity drops a bit, say (out loud or in your head): “Okay. That question was rough. But this is practice. My job now is to learn from it, not grade myself as a human being.”

Then immediately take one small, concrete action, like reviewing one explanation, rewriting one rule, or outlining one issue.

How to Use Sour-Candy Strategies on Bar Exam Day

Here’s the not-so-fun part: Most bar exam security policies are strict about what can be on your desk. Food and unwrapped candy are usually prohibited, and even permitted snacks often have to stay in a bag at the front or be accessed only during breaks. You should assume you won’t be popping Sour Patch Kids mid-Evidence essay.

So we need bar-exam-day alternatives that use the same principle (e.g., intense, grounding sensory input) but don’t break the rules.

You can still apply the idea of sour candy using tools that are likely allowed or can be used during breaks:

• Cold water on breaks. Splash cold water on your face or wash your hands with cool water at the sink. This uses similar “sensory shock” strategies found in DBT’s crisis-skills like temperature changes to interrupt emotional overload.

  
  

• Grounding through touch. While seated, press your feet firmly into the floor and push your hands down on your thighs or the sides of the chair. Feel the pressure, the contact, the solidness. Silently label: floor, chair, hands, breath.

  
  

• Micro-breathing reset. In between questions (or when you’re tempted to panic-scroll through the booklet), take 3 to 5 slow breaths: inhale through your nose for 4, exhale through your mouth for 6 to 8. Count it out in your head.

  
  

• Break-time “mental sour.” If you practiced with actual sour candy during prep, your brain now has a strong memory of that sensation. On exam day, during a break, you can briefly recall it: imagine that intense pucker, where you feel it, how your face reacts. It’s not as powerful as the real thing, but the association can still help cue your nervous system that “this is the reset moment.”

None of these tricks require contraband snacks at your desk. They’re quiet, quick, and rule-friendly.

When bar prep feels sour, you don’t need a perfect fix. You just need a quick reset so you can keep going. Use tools like sour candy now and their exam-day cousins (cold water, grounding, and breathing) later to pause, refocus, and get back on track.