Do righties really live longer than lefties-MYTHS BUSTED
The myth
How does the hand you use to write with determine how old you live. A person I know read in an old annual of the Beano, that lefties live longer than right handed people by 9 years on average. I researched this and found out that the myth was actually that righties live longer than left handed people.
Is this true? How does the hand you use to write with determine how old you live. Why do people think this? I am going to uncover this myth
The evidence
13 per cent of 20-year-olds are lefthanded but only 5 per cent of those in their fifties and virtually nobody of 80 or above. Some people believe that this absence of left-handers from the oldest age groups reflects higher biological and environmental risk.
This may be true, but is this info significant to the question do righties live longer than lefties, or is this just coincidence?
Diving deeper...
Looking back into victorian times, everybody was forced to be right handed. In their schools, left handed children were forced to use their right hand by threatening them with harsh punishment. It is a well known fact that by forcing a left-handed child to become right-handed, the child develops a stutter. Victorian children who were forced to change hands developed stutters.
Most myths come from way back...
Yes. Most myths and sayings come from way back.
Looking way back I found that all the tools, operating equipment and 'gadgets' were made for righties. One example is scizzors. Because lefties couldn't operate these 'gadgets' tools and operating equiptment properly, or at all, they were more likely to have accidents, or were less likely to survive. Going back to that they were more likely to have accidents, this means probably that they might die sooner.
Now?
Although that fact I stated under 'The evidence' section may be true, in this day and age, I don't think it is true.
It is just one more thing for people to get worked up about, probably created by some rascal posting stuff on the internet!
QUOTE FROM GUARDIAN
In 1991, the psychologists Stanley Coren and Diane Halpern claimed they had found the average life expectancy of lefthanders to be no less than nine years shorter than that of righthanders, because of the clumsiness of lefthanders, combined with the fact that most machines and appliances are designed for righthanded use. Fortunately, their claim was proved to be based on a flawed analysis and groundless.
