Cold hands grip narrower handles with more force, study finds

Volunteers immersed their hands in water at about 50 degrees Fahrenheit until their grip weakened, according to ecoportal.net. Despite the cold-induced weakness, the chilled hands squeezed harder when the handle they gripped was narrowed by less than half an inch.

The study observed that as the skin and muscles cooled, blood vessels in the hand constricted and blood flow shifted toward the body's core. This cooling slowed nerve signals and reduced the muscles' ability to close the fingers with force.

Interestingly, while the hands still wanted to close around objects, they could not exert as much force as when warm. Researchers hypothesized that cold immersion would make the hand better suited to a narrower grip span than when warm, and their measurements supported this idea.

However, the exact reasons why the optimal handle width changes with temperature remain unclear, as the study did not fully explain the underlying cause. The findings suggest that handle design may need to consider temperature effects on grip strength.