MONTREAL – According to research, only ten per cent of people are left handed.
There have been studies that show that most of the time, we choose a dominant hand while we are still in our mother’s wombs – with 90 per cent of us choosing to suck our right thumbs.
In fact, left handedness is so rare there is a historical stigma in some cultures against it.
If you’re a leftie, you may have had a hard time using scissors, smudge the page when you write with a leaky pen or get worked up when you walk into a classroom with right-sided desks – but there are a few reasons to look on the bright side.
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- A research conducted by Dr. Nick Cherbuin shows that lefties are better at handing stimuli, making them better at playing video games.
- As a leftie, you are more likely to be a quick typer.
- On a QWERTY keyboard, there are around 1447 English words typed solely with the left hand, whereas only 187 are typed with the right.
- Lefties may have an advantage in some sports. For example, if you’re watching the Rogers Cup, you might notice that right-handed players have a difficult time handling a leftie’s serve because they’re less accustomed to the angles created by someone who is holding their racket in the opposite hand.
- It has also been said, but not proven, that lefties tend to have a higher IQ than right-handed people. Albert Einstein was a leftie and so were the last five of the seven most recent U.S. presidents.
So, if you’re scrolling down this page with your left hand, Happy #LeftHandersDay!
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