It’s still not fully understood by researchers how an individual becomes either left-handed or right-handed, but interestingly enough, they’ve found many correlations between the genes that make people who they are and their environmental surroundings.
For example, the world obviously caters more to right-handed people, so it’s only natural that left-handed people spend much of their lives adapting to it. As a result, left-handed people are generally more independent than right-handed people. Like this one, there are several interesting facts about left-handed people you like didn’t know about!
1. Most left-handed people primarily utilize the right hemisphere of their brains.
2. The etymology of the word “left” is rather interesting. It is a word with Anglo-Saxon roots, and it is actually derived from the word “lyft.” Lyft translates to the words, “weak” or “broken.”
3. Left-handed people tend to be better than right-handed people at sports, such as baseball, basketball, tennis, football, or soccer.
4. It’s currently estimated that roughly 5-10 people out of 100 people (from a global sample) are left-handed.
5. Nearly half of the best tennis players in the world are predominantly left-handed.
6. Left-handed people have an easier time seeing underwater as opposed to right-handed people.
7. Research suggests that left-handed people who graduate college earn 26% more than right-handed people who graduate college.
8. Left-handed people, on average, begin experiencing puberty roughly five months later than right-handed people.
9. Twins are more susceptible to being left-handed than other people. In fact, roughly 1 in 5 sets of twins are left-handed.
10. Left-handed people are 3% more likely to become alcoholics than right-handed people.
11. Assuming the left hand is in the correct positioning on the keyboard, the longest words that can be typed without using the right hand are “tesserae,” “dresses,” “sweaters,” and “decades.”
12. Small animals such as rats, mice, and even cats, have an equally split percentage between right-pawedness and left-pawedness.
13. Out of the astronauts present on the Apollo mission, only one was a lefty.
14. Research suggests that left-handed people are more gifted in architecture and math, and they tend to have more spatial awareness.
15. Left-handed people mentally process emotional responses in a different way than right-handed people. For example, they tend to anger more quickly.
16. In the past, left-handed people were believed to be linked to the devil, rebellion, criminal behavior, and homosexuality. On the contrary, left-handedness was also believed to elevate a person’s musical and artistic skills.
17. Left-handed people have their own day for appreciation! Left-Handers Day falls on the 13th of August.
18. Over 30 million Americans are lefties.
19. Those who are left-handed have an increased risk of suffering from insomnia.
20. Expecting women above the age of 39 have a significantly increased chance of delivering left-handed children. This is in comparison to younger women who are expecting in their 20’s.
21. Left-handedness can be genetically passed throughout a family.
22. Lefties have a higher chance of struggling with asthma and allergies as opposed to righties.
23. In the event that a left-handed person suffers an injury to their left hand, they are quicker to pick up skills in using the right hand (opposed to right-handed people having to do the same with their left hand).
24. Many of the most wanted people in history were left-handed, including Osama Bin Laden, The Boston Strangles, and Jack the Ripper.