International Left Handers Day

Todays blog, is in honor of my husband and Father in law (who are both lefty's!)

Our local news informed me this morning that August 13th is International Left Handers Day, so I decided to pull up a link and was amazed at the facts I found....


No-one has come up with a definitive reason for WHY some people are left-handed, but about 13% of the population around the world are, and it is thought to be genetic - it definitely runs in families. Researchers have recently located a gene they believe "makes it possible to have a left-handed child " so if you have that gene, one or more of your children may be left-handed, whereas without it, you will only have right-handers - sorry! The good news is, that if you are left-handed yourself, you have that gene and will pass it on through the generations!

The way the brain works is incredibly complex, but this simplified explanation will give you some understanding of where our left-hand dominance comes from. The brain is "cross-wired" so that the left hemisphere controls the right handed side of the body and vice-versa and hand dominance is connected with brain dominance on the opposite side - which is why we say that only left-handers are in their right minds!



Fascinating Facts:

-Most left-handers draw figures facing to the right.

-There is a high tendency in twins for one to be left-handed

-Stuttering and dyslexia occur more often in left-handers (particularly if they are forced to change their writing hand as a child, like King of England George VI).

-Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater.

-Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing

-Left-handers usually reach puberty 4 to 5 months after right-handers

-4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed

-1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed - 250% more than the normal level.


Famous Left Handers



~Just think of what it's like to be a lefty in a righty world... many everyday tasks used to be very difficult, now days...many tools have been adapted to accomodate leftys...scissors, cutting knives, can openers, kitchen peelers, writing utensils, rulers, gardening pruners, chainsaws etc...