International Lefthanders Day!

International Left Handers Day on August 13th recognizes all those individuals who have mastered using their left hand in a right-handed world. We take our hats off to you – left-handed!

Approximately 10% of the population are ‘southpaws’, or left handed. Scientists speculate that genetics and environment both play a role in left-handedness. It is more likely a child will be left-handed if one parent is a lefty, too. Parents of left-handed children used to force them to use their right hands. In the past, in the eyes of right-handers, the predominant use of the left hand seemed evil.While we accept left-handedness more readily than days gone by, its occurrence hasn’t increased.

Studies have shown that left handed people have some advantages over right handed people. Although counter intuitive, the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, and vice versa. This means for left-handed people, the right side of the brain, which is responsible for fine motor skills, and is also responsible for divergent, creative thinking that helps think of solutions. This may also be because to survive in a right-handed majority world, left-handers have to be creative and use both of their hands more.

Having to use both sides of the brain more in daily life has led scientists to find that left handers tend to have faster connections and responses between their right and left sides of the brain. In fact, left-handed stroke victims reportedly recover faster. While the reason is unclear, some believe it’s due to left-handed people having to strengthen both sides of the brain to succeed in a right-handed world. Because many lefties are better at using their non-dominant hand, it’s less difficult for them to recover from a stroke that damages one part of their brain.

There are many successful and famous people who are left handed, including Presidents Reagan and Clinton, as well as Ben Franklin, Henry Ford, Babe Ruth, Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Steve Jobs.