What’s Left?
Left-handedness appears to be associated with a greater risk for a number of psychiatric and developmental disorders. While lefties make up about 10% of the overall population, about 20% of people with schizophrenia are lefties, for example. Links between left-handedness and dyslexia, ADHD and some mood disorders have also been reported in research studies.
Full article on the health risks of being left-handed.
Don’t left handers have shorter life expectancies?
Cars, remote controls, computer mouses, and even the written language seem to favor right-handers. No wonder it drives left-handers to have psychiatric disorders.
I don’t think the Journal is right about this. They’re left with no leg to stand on in their efforts to palm off leftist theories and finger the poor southpaws. While dis-arming in their humor, I’d rather see researchers knuckle down and nail the truth.
What a pun-dit, Atilla! Or is that Attila? Anyway, this could be a handy theory. After all, do left-handers also left-footed or left-eye dominant? I think not.
They whole concept of being left handed seems implausible. Why would a person favor one hand over the other? We don’t favor one leg over the other.
But, that said, I’m very right handed. My left hand is basically useless except to balance out my torso so my right shoulder/arm/hand doesn’t sag and to create an aesthetically pleasing symmetry about my body.
I once met a man who rented a 5-speed manual transmission rental car for a trip from London to Dover. Not only was he unused to driving a 5-speed; not only was he unused to driving on the wrong side of the road; but he had to shift gears with his left hand. He survived the ordeal but said — in retrospect — his decision to not rent a car with an automatic transmission was a mistake.
Handedness is one aspect of side-dominance that is also expressed in which side of the brain is dominant (the right hemisphere controling the left side and vice versa). But since neither the brain nor the body is symetrical, the left/right dichotomy affects skills and how people think and feel. Thus, e.g., studies have shown that roughly 30% journalists are left handed.
Here is a list of left-handed U.S. presidents. Don’t know how comprehensive it is.
James A. Garfield
Herbert Hoover
Harry S. Truman
Gerald Ford
Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Barack Obama
http://www.indiana.edu/~primate/left.html
“We don’t favor one leg over the other”
But we do – most soccer players have a dominate shooting foot, and ultimately coordinated leg muscles to control the shot, football kickers as well. Basketball and volleyball players have dominate legs in which they jump from – so perhaps there is more to the brain part than just the hands.
I am left handed for writing, but kick right, throw and bat right, play raquet sports left handed, but played hockey right handed – go figure.