WORLD
The secret of controlling your anger? Forget meditation - using your `wrong` hand to stir your tea helps train your self-control
Baku, March 13 (AZERTAC). People who find themselves on the verge of yelling at queue-jumpers or crafty colleagues could be helped by a simple - if slightly odd - exercise. Right handers should get into the habit of using a computer mouse, stirring a cup of coffee or opening a door with their left hand - and left-handers should do the opposite. `Training` yourself to use the `wrong` hand seems to act as practice for other kinds of self control, such as being polite.
Dr Thomas Denson, of the University of New South Wales, said practising self control is no different from getting better at golf or playing the piano. In studies he showed people who try to use their non-dominant hand for two weeks keep a lid on their aggression better. So if they are right handed, they are told to use their left hand `for pretty much anything that is safe to do,` he said. Dr Denson, whose findings are published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, said it is only self control that keeps us from punching queue jumpers or murdering conniving colleagues.
Dr Denson and colleagues said criminologists and sociologists have long believed people commit violent crimes when an opportunity arises and they are low on self-control. Studies have also found that, after people have had to control themselves for a while, they behave more aggressively.
For people not inclined towards violence, it may also be useful to practice self control by trying to improve your posture, for example. In the short term, this can reduce self control and make it harder to control impulses.