Fun Facts

During the early days of civilization, people used whichever hand can be used in finding food, climbing hills and mountains, building shelters, and even drawing pictures on the walls of their caves.  Anthropologists theorized that handedness was shared evenly between left-handed and right-handed thousands of years ago.

Ancient artifacts unearthed all over the world proved that Stone Age men created instruments that could be used with either hand, whichever was convenient for them.

A study which cited that the right-handed lived longer than the left-handed was based on scrutiny of records of deceased baseball players which took note of the age at death for right-handers and left-handers.  The kind of methodology however, has created doubts from many people up to this time.

The study failed to consider that there is a decline in the number of children forced to change handedness over the past decades, resulting in a much higher number of left-handed compared to 50 years ago.

British researchers made similar studies of numerous cricket players but their methodology was differently done which excluded the factor of forced handedness.  It was revealed that there was no difference in mortality between the right-handers and the left-handers when unnatural causes were not considered.

A mixed opinion aroused on the belief that lefties are more accident prone.  This was furthered supported by a Swedish study of military conscripts that showed no significant difference, except for motor vehicle-related accidents that have been attributed to right-layout inclination of driver controls.

Again a study done in 1980 by Halpern & Coren implied that left-handed people had an average life expectancy of 9 years less than right-handed people.  However, the data was not considered credible since it was based only on second-hand information gathered from the next-of-kin of recently deceased persons who were right and left-handed.  The findings of researchers revealed that left-handed average age of death was 66 and the right-handed average age was 75.

However, that second-hand survey data used in the Halpern & Coren study is not a reliable methodology and only a few number of sample sizes were used.  The research made by Aggleton, Bland, Kentridge, & Neave in the British Medical Journal does not agree on the theory that left-handed people die earlier.

But there are some evidences that left-handed women may have a shorter life span than right-handed women.  A recent Dutch study indicated that left-handed women had a 40 percent higher risk of dying from any cause.  They have a 70 percent higher risk of dying from cancer, and a 30 percent higher risk of dying from diseases of the circulatory system.

Left-handed women also had a 2 times increased risk of dying from breast cancer, close to a 5 times increased risk of dying from colorectal cancer, and more than 3 times higher risk of cerebro-vascular mortality.
But to-date no valid reason is given by researchers why left-handed women are prone to diseases.  This leaves the subject of life-expectancy of right-handed and left-handed people to some degree of uncertainty.

Fun Stuff left handed, left hander, right handed, right hander

For many years, it has been argued that left-handers are more successful than right-handers.  What may be the reasons for this?

Some famous left-handed men in history are successful in their careers such as Alexander the Great, Julius Cesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Beethoven, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, Paul McCartney, Bruce Jenner, John McEnroe, former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush.

One who fights with left hand in boxing is generally believed to emerge as the winner.  A left-hander in boxing refers to a fighter with his right foot forward while holding his left at the rear aiming for a fatal attack.

However in history, being left-handed has been labeled negative, meaning to say that you’re not actually doing the right thing.  Even today, leftists are regarded as people who are leaning on the wrong side of the path.  Men who are doing the right thing are called rightists, not leftists.  Men who betray their wives are branded as left-turners.

If you listen to boxing trainers talk about left-handed boxers, you might be amazed that they somewhat fear left-handers.  A boxing trainer said that nobody wants to fight a left-hander in boxing, it’s a suicide.

The impression that left-handed men are powerful has been existing for centuries.  Some researchers believe that there is an uncommon level of testosterone during pregnancy that causes left-handedness.  Researchers believe that everyone was born to be right-handed and that problems during pregnancy or delivery made a person left-handed.

But findings revealed that immune system problems exist among left-handers.  One of the most prominent left-handers who have immune system disorder is President George Bush, while President Bill Clinton has allergies.  Researchers also theorized that left-handers are more likely to die of accidents than right-handers. Left-handers are also believed likely to be more dyslexic, schizophrenic, alcoholic, and delinquent.

A hypothesis from researchers came out that left-handedness can be associated with violence, because violent left-handed people have more advantage in fighting than the right-handed. They found a positive correlation between murder rates and percentage of left-handed people in several societies.  If there are more left-handed people in a community, the higher the homicide rate may likely be.

Fighting with a left-handed boxer is not as easy as you may think.  All of his punches come from opposite directions than what boxers are trained to expect.  A right-handed fighter finds it difficult to block a left-hander’s attack because he feels that all his punches are coming from the wrong direction.

During the past centuries, there were no left-handed fighters.  Men who were born left handed were considered inferior due to abnormal pregnancy reasons, thus, they were not accepted as boxers.  Great fighters refused to face left-handers in their boxing careers.  It was considered an improper way to box an inferior person.

However, it was found out later that left-handers are powerful fighters.  They trick opponents because their power is coming from an unexpected direction and from an unseen angle.  This is the reason why they were avoided by right-handers in the ring.

Fun Stuff left handed, left handers, right hand vs left hand, right handers