Fact checked by Nick Blackmer
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/GettyImages-2241222779-b5e21de26b314af3b7d0fc8fedb9a35e.jpg "Man sitting will hand on chin.")
Credit: Westend61 / Getty Images
- On social media, people are trying “pinky time” as a way to boost brain health and prevent dementia.
- Experts say the trend may engage the brain and could offer some cognitive benefits.
- However, there’s no evidence that pinky exercises can prevent dementia.
A recent TikTok wellness trend has people trying to improve brain health in an unexpected way: with the wiggle of a finger. Creators are posting videos of themselves doing a simple finger exercise they call "pinky time," claiming it can help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and improve brain neuroplasticity. While there’s some scientific support for the idea that finger movements can engage the brain, neurologists say assertions that daily pinky time can ward off dementia on its own are overblown.
What Is the Pinky Time Trend—and Why Are People Doing It?
According to TikTokers, “pinky time” is a specific finger movement involving several steps. Demonstrators cross their index and middle fingers (like for good luck), press their thumb and ring finger together, and then, while holding that position, move their pinky up and down for 30 seconds on each hand.
Creators claim that regular practice can not only help protect against dementia—with some videos even referring to it as an “anti-Alzheimer’s pinky exercise”—but also that the ability to move your pinky with ease is a sign of a healthy brain.
Can This Movement Really Do Anything For Your Brain?
While the specific “pinky time” exercise hasn’t been studied, research suggests that complex finger and hand movements can indeed challenge the brain, said John Showalter, MD, MSIS, a double board-certified physician specializing in dementia prevention and treatment and the chief operating officer of Linus Health.
For example, a systematic review and meta-analysis of 12 studies found that finger exercises improved general cognitive function and daily activities in older adults. Another study of 200 stroke patients showed that finger exercises led to statistically significant improvement on two standardized cognitive tests.
One reason these movements might be beneficial is that they’re unfamiliar. “Pinky time encourages people to perform movements that they don’t normally perform, which essentially engages multiple areas of the brain, including motor planning, attention, timing, and sensory feedback simultaneously,” said Eric Anderson, MD, PhD, a board-certified neurologist and chief operating officer of Lin Health. “This is a novel activity for the brain.”
In fact, Alexander Zubkov, MD, a board-certified neurologist and medical advisory board member for 1MD Nutrition, said the hands and fingers occupy a “disproportionately large area of the brain’s motor and sensory cortex.”
However, Zubkov cautions against conflating brain activation with dementia prevention. While finger exercises may temporarily engage the brain—and even improve performance on certain cognitive tasks—that’s quite different from preventing Alzheimer’s.
“Brain activation and dementia prevention are not the same thing,” Zubkov said. “A flickering light activates your visual cortex. That doesn’t mean it protects your vision.”
Does It Mean Anything If You Can’t Do the Pinky Move?
If you’re not able to perform the pinky time exercise easily, that doesn’t necessarily mean your brain is in bad shape.
“Difficulty with a fine motor task can reflect arthritis, hand dominance, a previous injury, or simply not having practiced it,” Zubkov said. “A healthy person with stiff fingers may fail. Someone in early cognitive decline may pass easily.”
In short, he said, “it’s not a diagnostic tool.”
Activities to Boost Brain Health
While pinky time itself hasn’t been studied for its brain benefits, researchers have tested other hand and finger exercises. In the stroke study mentioned above, participants performed several exercises, including the following, 60 to 100 times, twice a day:
- Palm Massage Circles: Use one hand to draw small circles on the palm of the other hand, then switch.
- Finger Extension Sequence: Starting with a closed fist, extend each of your five fingers one at a time, in order, on both hands.
- Finger Clicking: Using one hand, tap each finger of the opposite hand one at a time, then switch.
- Wrist Flipping: Place your palms together, then rotate your hands inward and outward in alternating directions.
“Each of these exercises challenges the brain through coordination, sequencing, and sustained attention—the same mechanisms that make complex finger exercise beneficial for cognitive health,” Showalter said.
They also involve learning something new, Anderson added, which he said “is the best way to regularly engage and continuously activate multiple parts of your brain.”
Of course, finger movements aren’t the only—nor the most effective—strategy for supporting brain health. According to the experts, the most important habits include getting regular aerobic exercise, eating a healthy diet, getting adequate sleep, staying socially and mentally engaged, managing blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose, and treating chronic diseases.
“You can’t do finger exercises but not treat your diabetes,” Showalter said. “That’s not going to work.”
