For improved memory, just clench your fists

Having problems remembering things? The solution may be right in your hands, as a new study has shown that by clenching your right hand into a fist for about 90 seconds can help you form new memories, and clenching your left hand for the same amount of time can help you recall those memories.

The research on this was led by Dr. Ruth Propper, the head of the Cerebral Lateralization Laboratory at Montclair State University, in New Jersey. She and her colleagues gathered 50 participants, divided them into teams of 10, and had them memorize a list of words that don't often show up in people's conversations, such as "aardvark" and "twilight". Depending on what team you were on, you either memorized the list without any help, or you got a rubber ball to squeeze in one of your hands before you committed the list to memory, and then the other hand while you recalled the words.

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"We report that 90 seconds of right hand clenching prior to studying information, followed by 90 seconds of left hand clenching prior to recall results in superior memory for information," Propper reported in the press release. "The converse — left hand clenching followed by right hand clenching — impairs memory."

According to Propper, this 'unilateral' hand clenching (clenching only one fist at a time) causes activity in the opposite side of the brain... right hand, left brain... left hand, right brain. Since the left side of the brain is involved in creating memories, clenching your right fist helps in that process, and since the right side of the brain is used in recalling memories, clenching your left fist helps with that.

This research was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, which hopes to use these kinds of techniques to improve soldiers' memories and performance, and thus keep them safer while on duty, but Propper says that it can also be useful for anyone who wants help in remembering things.

"It could be helpful, right before putting down the car keys, for example, if you clench your right hand," she said in the statement. "Right before trying to recall where you’d left them, you’d clench your left hand."

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As someone who can be a little absent-minded at times, I really need to give this a try next time I put down my eyeglasses (the thing I seem to forget most frequently). The only problem comes in trying to remember to do the technique to help me remember.

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

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