#randomthoughts #righthanded #dailymysteries
🤔 Have you ever stopped and wondered why the majority of us are right-handed? It’s one of those random thoughts that can pop up out of nowhere and leave you scratching your head. Well, fear not, for today we are diving into this fascinating topic to uncover the reasons behind our dominant hand preference.
💠The first thing that may come to mind when pondering this mystery is genetics. And you would be partially correct! Research has shown that handedness is indeed influenced by genetics, with about 25% of left-handedness being attributed to genes. However, there is still much more to the story.
Evolutionary Advantage
🌟 One theory suggests that our preference for using our right hand may have stemmed from our evolutionary past. Back when our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, being right-handed would have provided a distinct advantage in terms of survival. The right hand would have been used for tasks such as hunting, crafting tools, and defending against predators, making it more efficient and reliable. Over time, this preference for the right hand may have become more ingrained in our species.
Brain Hemisphere Dominance
🧠Another factor that plays a role in handedness is brain hemisphere dominance. Research has shown that the left hemisphere of the brain controls the right side of the body, including hand movements. This connection may help explain why the majority of people are right-handed, as the left hemisphere tends to be dominant for language and fine motor skills.
Social Influence
👥 Additionally, social and cultural factors have been shown to influence handedness. In some societies, left-handedness was historically associated with negative connotations, leading to a preference for right-handedness. This social pressure may have contributed to the prevalence of right-handed individuals in many cultures.
Personal Experience
👀 On a more personal level, think about your own experiences and observations. Have you noticed that certain tasks feel more natural when using your right hand? Whether it’s writing, throwing a ball, or using a fork, these everyday activities can offer clues as to why you may be right-handed.
I remember reading that theory years ago.
Being left or right handed has to do with the amount of nerve connections at a specific spot on the spine. The one with more wins as you learn to use your hands and require more fine motor control.
Heart is in the center
Religious influence in some.
Would that mean that left handed people are built the opposite way.
That was actually my thought process as well. Then the right hand also would have more accessibility to your opponent’s heart. The reason left-handed people haven’t gone extinct then, is that right-handed people aren’t used to fighting them.
The heart sits in the center of your chest though
Left-handedness appears to be [more common](https://www.nature.com/articles/news041206-6) in societies where death by violence is prevalent, and disproportionally many world class martial artists are left-handed. So we can safely discard the possibility that righthandedness is selected for by violence between human beings. Violence would tend to select for the handedness that is at that point less common and more surprising.
Of course one can make the (likely correct) argument that righthanders would be preferred in shield walls of more advanced societies, and lefthanders would be given less protected skirmishing tasks and are more likely to die in battles even if they have the advantage of surprise in a one-on-one. But that is a circular argument that does not explain why righthandedness starts out as more common.
The heart is more or less in the center of the chest.
Left-ish, yes, but not as left as most people believe.
I could be wrong, but the heart typically sits off center in the chest cavity to the person left. Plus the blood pumps to the left, wouldn’t we want to protect that side?
Good shower thought! 🤙
Follow-up
To OPs point maybe that’s why we are statistically more likely to be right handed, to allow the left to protect and the right to attack!
I’m going to be thinking about this all day. God damn it
The real answer is: we have no concrete idea, mostly just different theories or guesses.
The popular cause is because of society and cultures.
One example is that in some cultures back throughout history, being left-handed was seen as impure or unlucky. So, people were required or basically forced to use their right hand.
From what I researched, around the 1960s and slightly beyond, American public school systems used to “correct” students who were left-handed and make them write + eat with their right hand.
There’s also other examples of similar stuff outside of the U.S too.
So, in short. The most popular and probable cause is that lots of societies and cultures throughout most of history had decided that being left-handed was a problem for who knows what.
The medical answer is because our left side brain is in the control and in our bodies there is a crossover that happens ( skipping a lot of details) that leads to our left brain side control the right side of our bodies so thats why we r mostly right handed
So do i want to die? I’m left handed
Im left handed… it’s annoying because when you write with a pen you mess up everything and also we lefties cant use normal scissors because they are designed for right handed people.
I’m left handed to the core, even wiping my ass with my left hand. That said, learning to play video games and use a mouse precisely with my right hand has been less than optimal.
I can never find a right hand catchers mit, and I don’t golf because all of my friends have right handed clubs.
Oh but people have a tough time guarding me in basketball. The more experienced people will shut down my left lane because I can only drive left. The others are left in the dust.
I always write crooked because i can’t see what I’m writing lmao, and my hand always gets ink smeared on the palm.
For me personally if i take a fighting stance its more instinctual to use my left to protect my face and chest and use my right to throw a punch but idk if that’s at all in anyway scientific or just preference
I don’t understand myself. I write, throw, and kick left handed. But I swing a bat, golf club, and play guitar right handed….
No one really knows, solid shower thought.
I see, so that’s why link can parry so hard!
Because you can’t have too much of a good thing.
You’re assuming a fighting position from modern martial arts. You do know that evolutionarily speaking, humans aren’t designed for that? We’re endurance hunters not boxers.