Exercises to improve your non-dominant hand

A small study published in the December 2019 issue of Scientific Reports has found that subjects who used their left hand to eat with chopsticks experienced major improvements in the speed and smoothness of elbow-joint motion as well as an increase in bilateral dorsolateral premotor cortex (dPMC) activity, which is responsible for motor control and other functions. These changes occurred in as few as six weeks.

Furthermore, training your non-dominant hand may improve the precision and quality of your writing, reports another small study featured in Neuropsychologia in July 2017. As the researchers note, it takes just 200 minutes of practice, or about 10 days of training, to gain better control over your non-dominant hand.

Using your opposite hand will strengthen neural connections in your brain, and even grow new ones. It’s similar to how physical exercise improves your body’s functioning and grows muscles.

Using the other hand helps your brain to better integrate its two hemispheres, experts say. “There is research that musicians who use both hands have about a 9 percent increase in the size of their corpus callosum [the part of the brain that connects the two hemispheres], so certainly using both hands create more transfer,” says Hale, who works primarily with children with cognitive challenges, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or dyslexia. “One could argue that this increase in exchange between the hemispheres could benefit intelligence or processing,” he says.

Control the computer mouse or television remote by using another hand or brushing your teeth with your other hand are a good example to start. You’ll probably notice it’s much harder to be precise with your movements.

Using the opposite hand might remind you how you felt when you were first learning to write your name, or tie your shoelaces. You will probably feel awkward, but this just means you are teaching your brain a new skill.

Repetitively using the other hand will eventually build up the knowledge and ability to use it with better functioning, although it’s probably not going to become as easy to use as your dominant hand.

Sources:

• https://youtu.be/XdDMWk4pOL4
• https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/benefits-of-using-your-opposite-hand-grow-brain-cells-while-brushing-your-teeth/
• https://www.livestrong.com/article/498364-exercises-to-improve-your-non-dominant-hand/
• https://www.nwitimes.com/niche/shore/health/using-your-other-hand-benefits-your-brain/article_6da931ea-b64f-5cc2-9583-e78f179c2425.html
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-56956-0
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4903896/
• https://bcbstwelltuned.com/2018/08/21/can-using-your-other-hand-strengthen-your-brain/
• https://us-east-2.console.aws.amazon.com/polly/home/SynthesizeSpeech

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