One study has mentioned that left-handed women may have shorter lifespan, whereas other report suggest that left-handers are not only better at sport due to edge given by faster reactions, but left-handers also do more than all right in the pay stakes. What a confusion.
- First Report:
A study suggests that women who are left-handed have a higher risk of dying, particularly from cancer and cerebrovascular disease - damage to an artery in the brain or an artery that supplies blood to the brain, says Daily Mail.
It is estimated that about one in 10 people are lefties. Reports have associated left-handedness with various disorders and, in general, a shorter life span, Dutch researchers note in their report in the journal Epidemiology.
"Left-handers are reported to be underrepresented in the older age groups, although such findings are still much debated," Dr Made K Ramadhani is quoted by the news daily. Among 12,178 middle-aged Dutch women the researchers followed for nearly 13 years, 252 died.
When left-handed women were compared with the other women, and the data were adjusted for a number of potentially confounding factors, lefties had a 40 per cent higher risk of dying from any cause, a 70 per cent higher risk of dying from cancer, and a 30 percent higher risk of dying from diseases of the circulatory system.
Left-handed women also run increased risk of dying from breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cerebrovascular mortality.
The underlying mechanisms remain elusive, although genetics and environmental factors may be involved, Ramadhani and colleagues suggest. Much of the research into handedness and mortality has been fueled by the hypothesis that left-handedness is the result of an insult suffered during prenatal life, which ultimately leads to the early death.
Noted left-handed author D Olga Basso was quoted by The Daily Mail as saying, "I am not alone in thinking that the literature on handedness suffers from a number of ills," regardless of the putative illnesses seen in those who are left-handed, she notes.
"Having successfully dodged a number of disorders," adds Basso, "I doubt that my left hand is prematurely pulling me toward my grave."
- Second Report:
Left-handers do more than all right in the pay stakes (2)
A study found that left-handed men with a university degree earned an average of 21 per cent more than right-handed male graduates. Even those who only managed to stay for one year of study finished 13 per cent ahead of right-handers on the pay scale.
But the researchers, two U.S.-based economists, could not come up with a single reason why. And, curiously, they could find no such differential between right and lefthanded women.
For the male study, Christopher Ruebeck from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and Robert Moffitt of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland used data supplied by 5,000 men aged between 28 and 35. Left-handers made up about 10 per cent of respondents.
The findings were reported by the National Bureau of Research in a 60-page paper, Handedness and Earnings.
'We do not have a theory that reconciles all of these findings,' said Professor Ruebeck.
'The raw data is unequivocal and shows left-handed men earned substantially more than their right-handed counterparts.'
He called for further research to try to establish reasons for the link. Professor Ruebeck, who is right-handed, said other studies have found that left-handers are over-represented at U.S. universities.
Some of the world's most famous musicians and actors have been 'southpaws' - including Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Phil Collins, Tom Cruise and Robert De Niro.
And the most famous female tennis player of all time, Martina Navratilova, played with her left hand. But she was also ambidextrous, a skill that helped her win eight Wimbledon singles titles. (2)
It has long been suggested that left-handed people have an advantage when playing sport, now scientists have shown it is true.
New research has found connections between the left and right hand sides or hemispheres of the brain are faster in "southpaws". (3)
Ref:
1. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/lefthanded-women-live-short/39532-13.html
2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=400156&in_page_id=1770
3. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=433138&in_page_id=1965
