Advantages and curiosities of left-handedness in childhood

01/06/2022

Advantages and curiosities of left-handedness in childhood

Left-handed children represent 12% of the world's child population and, although throughout history they have been persecuted and even branded as witches, today left-handedness is considered something totally normal, and rare are the cases of parents who try to reorient the child to write with his right hand. Researchers do not agree on the reason for left-handedness, some believe that it is due to an imbalance between cooperation and competition in the evolution of the human being, high level of testosterone or genetics. Be that as it may, there are certain curiosities that left-handed children gather.

1. The percentage of left-handed people has remained practically unchanged since prehistory.

2. Left-handed children have advantages in certain sports such as soccer or tennis compared to right-handed players. In addition, studies reveal that they tend to be more athletic and have better spatial vision, which is why left-handers abound in elite sports.

3. A Peabody College study found that left-handed children tend to be more precocious in math and have early language development.

4. Left-handedness is more common in boys (11%) than in girls (9%) without the causes having been determined.

5. Studies reveal that left-handed people manage their emotions worse, the areas of the cerebral cortex that process negative emotions such as anger or hostility, present greater activity.

6. There is a high incidence of left-handedness in twin children, in which one of the two is left-handed, but it is very rare to find cases in which both are left-handed.

7. Most left-handed children tend to draw dolls, figures or people who face to the right.

8. In most countries the percentage of left-handers is 10%, except in Japan, where only 2%.

9. The right hemisphere of the brain is the one that rules over the left part and works on creativity, ideas or imagination, which is why it tends to say that left-handers are children with a great artistic temperament.

10. Researchers found that connections between the left and right sides of the brain are made faster in lefties, indicating that they are more mentally agile and think faster.