Are you a left-handed person or maybe someone you know is? Either way we believe knowledge is power. One really interesting fact was stated by a scientist, who believed that left-handed people tended to be more independent as a result of having to adapt to a world which is largely built for right-handed individuals. Here are 23 fascinating pieces of trivia related to being a left-handed person.
1. Left-handed people make up between 5-10% of the population.
2. They are three times more likely to become alcoholics.
3. They use the right side of the brain the most.
4. They tend to reach puberty 4-5 months later than normal.
5. They make especially good baseball players, tennis players, swimmers, and boxers. Almost 40% of the top tennis players are lefties.
6. Of the 26 most recent US presidents, 8 have been left-handed. They are James Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
7. Left-handed college graduates go on to become 26% richer than right-handed graduates.
8. At various times in history, left-handedness has been seen as many things: a nasty habit, a mark of the devil, a sign of neurosis, rebellion, criminality, and homosexuality. It has also been seen as a trait indicating creativity and musical abilities.
9. The word left in English comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘lyft’, which means weak or broken.
10. Mothers who are over 40 at the time of a child’s birth are 128% more likely to have a left-handed baby than a woman in her 20s.
11. Although approximately 90% of all humans are right-handed, cats, rats, and mice seem to be equally split between right and left pawedness.
12. Studies have suggested that left-handers are more talented in spatial awareness, math, and architecture. Right-handers tend to be more talented verbally.
13. One in four Apollo astronauts were left-handed.
14. About 30 million people in the United States are left-handed.
15. Research suggests that left-handers are slightly more prone to allergies and asthma than right-handers.
16. Studies have shown that if a left-hander injures his dominant hand, he has an easier time learning to use the other hand than his right-handed counterparts.
17. The longest words that can be typed using only the left hand with conventional hand placement are ‘sweater dresses’ and ‘tesserae decades’.
18. Left-handedness runs in families. Lefties in the British Royal Family include the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and Prince William.
19. Left-handers are more likely to suffer from insomnia.
20. There is a day to celebrate being left-handed. It’s August 13th and known as International Left-Handers Day.
21. The Boston Strangler, Osama Bin Laden, and Jack The Ripper were all left-handed.
22. People who are left-handed are able to adjust to seeing underwater better than right-handed people. This gives them an epic advantage when playing Marco Polo.
23. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease conducted a study where they found that left-handers process emotions differently, and in turn they tend to get a little more angry faster than their right-handed peers. John McEnroe is left-handed and we’ve seen him very angry plenty of times.
How many of these interesting leftie facts did you know? I will be honest, I didn’t know most of them. I really had no idea that there were certain character traits that are more common in left-handers than right-handers. Now let us know which one is your dominate hand.