24 Facts You Didn’t Know About Left-Handed People

Although experts have been unable to identify why some people become left-handed, research has found a complex link between our genetics and environment.

Of course, researchers didn’t discover any “lefty-genes”, but they did notice that the number of left-handed members is higher in the family of a left-handed person.

Additionally, they have found that the writings in the brain are different in left-handed and right-handed people. For example, lefties tend to be more independent given they spend their entire lives adapting to the right-hand world.

Here are 24 little known fun facts about left-handers:

1. In most cases, left-handed people use the right brain side.
2. The word “left” is of Anglo-Saxon origin, from a word “lyft” which meant- broken or weak.
3. 5 to 10 percent of the world population is left-handed.
4. Lefties tend to be good at sports, like swimming, boxing, tennis, baseball, etc.
5. More than 40 percent of the top world tennis players are left-handed.
6. Their eyes can adjust to see underwater more easily than right-handers.
7. They usually reach puberty later than right-handed people.
8. Statistics show that left-handed college graduates are expected to become 26 percent richer than their right-handed colleagues.
9. They are 3% more likely to become alcoholics than right-handers.
10. Of the last 8 United States Presidents, 5 have been left-handed.
11. The longest words that can be typed with just the left hand with a conventional hand positioning are sweater, dresses, and tesserae decades.
12. 1 Apollo astronaut, out of 4, was left-handed.
13. Studies show that left-handers process emotions differently than right-handers, and tend to get angry faster.
14. The percentage of left and right pawedness is equally split in animals such as dogs, cats, and mice.
15. August 13th is Left-Handers Day.
16. Being left-handed was once thought to be a bad thing, often linked to nasty habits, rebellion, neurosis, a mark of the devil, homosexuality, and criminality. Yet, it was also considered to be a mark of creativity and musical skills.
17. Left-handers have an increased risk of struggling with insomnia.
18. Studies show that lefties are more talented in math, architecture, and spatial awareness, while righties have more developed verbal skills.
19. Statistics show that there are more than 30 million left-handed people in America.
20. Some of the most vicious and wanted killers in the human history were left-handed: Jack the Ripper, The Boston Strangles, and Osama Bin Laden.
21. As medical experts found, in the case of an injury to the dominant hand, left-handed individuals learn using the other one more quickly than if this happened to a right-handed person.
22. Studies show that lefties are more susceptible to allergies and asthma than right-handed people.
23. This trait runs in the family. For instance, the members of the British Royal Family, Prince William, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Mother, and Prince Charles are British Royal Family members are all left-handed.
24. Women pregnant in their 40s have a 128% higher chance of giving birth to a left-handed child, compared to pregnant women in their 20s.
    
    We hope you found this article to be informative and that you feel closer to your left-handed friends. If you enjoyed this piece, please share with your lefty and righty friends and family by clicking the button below!