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​Left-Handed People Are More Likely To Be Alcoholics, Says Study

​Left-Handed People Are More Likely To Be Alcoholics, Says Study

It’s thought the dominant part of the brain among left-handers is less tolerant to alcohol and creates more left-handed boozers.

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

Left handers are more likely to suffer with alcoholism than their right-handed counterparts, studies have suggested.

It is thought that this is because the dominant part of the brain amongst left handers is less tolerant to alcohol and therefore creates more left-handed alcoholics. Keep an eye out for people drinking with their left hand.

A study in the 1970s by psychologist Paul Bakan first proposed this after it was discovered that a surprisingly large percentage of patients on an alcohol dependency ward preferred using their left hand.

However, this evidence has not been shown to be conclusive due to the small amount of people included in the study.

It has been argued that it could be down to the pressures of living as a left-handed person in a world in which they are massively outnumbered.

Much has been made throughout history of the importance of the hand we use, and whilst we no longer think that left-handers are in league with Satan, there are still things we can learn from the hand we use to hold a fork.

The brain has two hemispheres, and the dominant hemisphere controls which hand we use most.

Confusingly, these are wired at opposites, so left-handers are right-brained, and vice versa.

The right hemisphere controls our understanding of music, art and emotions, the left deals with logic, mathematics, and science.

This means that left-handers are often more creative and artistic - which is shown through famous southpaws such as Leonardo da Vinci, Jimi Hendrix, and Sir Paul McCartney.

Sir Paul McCartney
Sir Paul McCartney

Credit: PA. Sir Paul McCartney isn't an alcoholic

In general, though, right-handers have been shown to hold the upper hand.

Those with a dominant left hemisphere have been shown to earn 12 percent more than their right-brained counterparts across the course of their lives.

Also, Joshua Goodman - an economist from Harvard University - conducted a large study and found that "lefties have more emotional and behavioural problems, have more learning disabilities such as dyslexia, complete less schooling, and work in occupations requiring less cognitive skill."

Studies have also found that left-handers live three years less than righties on average.

Whilst only 12 percent of the world's population prefers the left hand, they have achieved great things.

Five of the last seven US presidents have been lefties, as well as Neil Armstrong - the first man on the moon.

However, studies have also shown that 30 percent of the world's population is mixed-handed and uses different hands for different tasks, suggesting that maybe humans are difficult to categorise as exclusively favouring one hand over the other.

Featured Image Credit: The Simpsons / FOX

Topics: World News, Research