Generally, right-handed people are very common and most times seeing people who do virtually everything with their left hand seems weird. Previously, left-handed people were often stigmatized and embarrassed but thanks to research, many people have realized that there are benefits attached to using their left hand even when right-handed.
Writing With Opposite Hand Psychology
There is a lot of psychology behind trying to write with the opposite hand. When trying to do it, there’s a kind of mental commitment you experience – for some people, whenever they have a challenge and need new ideas to come up quickly, they resort to writing with the opposite hand. At this point, you have great access to the voice of your mind because you are focused on something.
Through Art therapist Lucia Capacchione’s longitudinal work, it was confirmed that writing with your non-dominant or opposite hand helps relieve stress, anxiety, and even some physical pain.
Your Non-Dominant Hand and the Right Sides of the Brain
During the process of writing with your non-dominant hand, you are entering territories beyond your rational thoughts. According to Capacchione, it is believed that writing with the opposite hand (speaking in the perspective of being right-handed) is connected to the right hemisphere of the brain. If you are left-handed, you are using your right hand to be in the mental world and vice versa if you are right-handed.
Now think of what will happen if you use both hands to write – you will be able to achieve more because you are boosting both sides of the brain.
Non-Dominant Hand Writing Therapy
If you wish to activate the right hemisphere of your brain and realize deep insights through the opposite handwriting therapy, you need to follow these steps.
- Think about a problem that is sort of a challenge to you – write it down as a question using your dominant hand.
- Next, switch the pen or pencil to your non-dominant or opposite writing hand for this part of the therapy session.
- Using your opposite hand, write down an answer to your earlier question.
- Note that it may be weird and feel slow at first but as you are dedicated and continue in the process, you will come up with ideas that will help solve your problem.
- Then try writing with both your dominant hand and your non-dominant or opposite hand at the same time. This will create access to both the right and left brain hemispheres, helping you to see problems and solutions from all perspectives.
Here are the 10 Benefits of Learning to Use Left Hand When Right-Handed
- They are faster typists
- They have better problem-solving skills
- They are better at some sports
- They excel in creative and visual arts
- They are better at multitasking
- They Have Some Health Perks
- They are good at complex reasoning
- Lefties have Better Memories
- Better at Playing Video Games
- Lefties Find it Easy to Learn Driving
- Earn Better than Right-Handed People
- They are smarter
#1. They Are Faster Typists
Using the QWERTY keyboard for instance, if given a timer to both right-handed and left-handed typists, it will be seen that the left-handed typists will achieve more. They are so fast that they could type up to 3,400 words on the standard QWERTY keyboard within a short period as compared to those who only use their right hand at four hundred and fifty words within the same time limit.
So if you wish to use this keyboard, then you should learn how to use the left hand. Now, see the logic behind this: on the QWERTY keyboard, the majority of words are typed with the left hand while about four hundred words are typed with the right hand. S
#2. They Have Better Problem-Solving Skills
If you wish to be a better problem solver then you should learn how to use your left hand. There are many great left-handed people who have contributed to solving problems and many of them have been Nobel prize winners.
There are many thoughts as to why these set of persons are more intelligent than their opposite counterparts but funny enough there has not been any unique answer it is believed that the challenge, embarrassment, and discrimination they must have faced have propelled them to think hard and smart thus making them natural problem solvers.
#3. They Are Better At Some Sports
One of the benefits of learning to use the left hand is that they are very good in most sports. Most right-handed players do practice against their fellow counterparts so when they are faced with a leftie, they are thrown off balance.
According to research, left-handed people are very much present in a database of 10,000 boxers and martial arts fighters hence they easily win. Apart from this, they do have many advantages in table tennis, baseball, cricket, and fencing games.
In a tennis game for instance, just imagine a left-handed player serving a right-handed player, hmmm! That is going to be a huge challenge. This is where their advantage sets in.
In baseball, it is very hard to steal a base from a left-handed pitcher and they do wear their glove on the right hand making things more difficult and giving them more advantage on the field.
#4. They Are Better At Multitasking
One benefit of learning to use your left hand is that your brain thinks more quickly than it would have to, compared to right-handers. The left and right hemispheres of the brain do speak to each other and it is swiftly processed in left-handed people this ability has been realized to increase with the increased dominance of the left hand.
The swiftness with which they interact is what accounts for the multitasking ability of the left-handers. They are very good at dealing with bulky and unorganized bits of information. Another factor while both hemispheres interact quickly is that left-handers have higher intelligence quotients.
#5. They Have Some Health Perks
It has been observed that left-handed stroke victims recover faster and the reason is not very well clarified. Though many are of the opinion that because they have been using both sides of the brain, they are strengthened to survive while others believe that since they can easily use their non-dominant hand then it is easy for them to recover from a stroke that affected only one part of their brain.
Speaking about arthritis and ulcers, they are rarely involved in such illnesses.
#6. They are Good at Complex Reasoning
Many people who have made history in the world were said to be left-handed. People like: Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Albert Einstein, and Beethoven have made people believe that left-handed people are more likely to succeed than right-handed people in art, music, and architecture.
Daniel Geschwind, a specialist in neurobehavioral genetics at UCLA looked into this and discovered that left-handed people do use the right side of their brain for creativity and both sides to deal with language. So he concluded that it is the reason for their highly complex reasoning state.
#7. Better At Playing Video Games
One of the benefits of learning how to use the left hand is that you will be better at playing video games. With the rise and fun of playing video games, of course, you wouldn’t love to always be the loser. Left-handed people have quick reflexes, dexterity, and fine motor skills and these help in their skill of killing zombies, playing virtual tennis or fighting off the monsters in video games making them win almost every time.
#8. Lefties Have Better Memories
Many right-handed people who belong to a family with many lefties do have good memories but it is observed that most left-handed people have much better memories to the point that they can remember the exact dates of events and even the words too.
#9. Lefties Find It Easy To Learn Driving
When we say that being left-handed has benefits, it is always backed up with evidence. Take a look at this – two of the world’s best drivers, Ayrton Senna and Valentino Rossi, are left-handed.
With the ability to multitask, the lefties find skills in driving to be an easy job. Things like changing the gear, turning the wheel, and applying brakes, are done swiftly, and using a poll at a driving school, it was found that 57% of left-handers passed their driving test at the first trial as compared with 47% of their right-handed colleagues.,
#10. They Earn Better Than Right-Handed People
For this particular case, no reason has been found, or maybe should we just call it luck on the side of the left-handed male gender. Research over the years has shown that left-handed males who attend school earn thirteen to fifteen percent more than their right-handed colleagues.
It is weird but since it has been confirmed over and over again, then we will say that it is true. The funny aspect is that it is quite different for left-handed females – in their case, they tend to earn five percent less than their right-handed female folks.
Brushing Teeth With Left-Hand- Benefits
Research has shown that creative thinking is in the right hemisphere of our brain and that we can activate this part by working with the non-dominant hand ( which may be the left hand in this case).
With the above information, you will know that one of the benefits of learning to use your left hand to brush your teeth is to improve your creativity and problem-solving skills.
Lucia Capacchione in her book “The Power of Your Other Hand”, states that “When a dialogue occurs between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, both emotions and (logical) thoughts are more fully expressed and understood”. Hence, it will help us look at certain problems critically and proffer solutions to them.
The whole aim is to confuse the brain by trying to learn new skills even if your dominant hand can do it better.
According to Kwik, the first 60 minutes of your day determine if you will be successful for that day or if you will be distracted. Our brain is not really designed to handle distractions, and interruptions so while in the middle of any serious activity, it demands our full attention.
Just the way an athlete takes care of his body, we also need to take good care of our brains, to become who we wish to be. As earlier stated, your first duties or morning routines will determine how the day will look so ensure you start your day with the best acts.
Brushing teeth with your non-dominant hand is actually one of them though you will find it hard or frustrating it is fun. Now, this is how it will help you.
a. It will support your brain’s neural connections and even develop one
The use of your non-dominant hand to brush your teeth will support your brain’s neural connections and most likely develop new ones. This is because, through the growth of new neurons and mental stimulation, the brain modifies itself continually.
This is quite similar to how physical exercise improves the functioning of your body and develops muscles.
b. It Will Train you to be Consciously Present
This act will make you be steady and train you to keep your focus at present. It will help you to practice mindfulness because our attention is always divided ranging from the latest happenings to social media and others.
c. It Will Develop Muscle Attention
This exercise focuses more when you read or learn and also helps you to develop a ‘muscle’ attention that will showcase its importance in other spheres of your life.
d. Brain Fitness
It will feel weird at first, but you will create new neural pathways in your brain by doing this simple exercise.
The opposite side of the body is controlled by one part of the brain, and there is something like a body-brain pathway so using another part of your body to do a job will train that part of your mind and help your brain to be fit.
e. It Will Train You To Do The Hard Things
Knowing fully well that this exercise is difficult but your decision to embark on it will help you to do difficult things in every aspect of your life.
Benefits of Writing With Non-Dominant Hand
Using your non-dominant hand to write has a lot of benefits. Some are listed below.
- It activates new neural links in the brain that leads to creative thinking and problem-solving skills.
- It helps cognitive and physical development.
- It helps to train your brain to use both hands equally.
- It can also improve your memory and playing skills since you use both sides of your brain and muscle tissue often.
For people who are used to writing with their dominant hand, it may be very difficult but the keyword is to be committed to it and keep on trying – definitely you will get there.
How handedness develops in humans
Before we dive into the benefits of learning how to use the left hand, we need to know that handedness – the choice of using a particular hand for basic tasks begins with the control of the right or left brain.
There are four types of handedness and they include left-handedness, right-handedness, mixed-handedness, and ambidexterity. Left-handed people do have a dominant right brain, right-handed people have a dominant left brain and the majority of persons in the world today are right-handed, just a few are left-handed.
People do wonder about how handedness develops in humans; some theories have been set up to explain it.
- Genetic Factors: Most likely if both parents are left-handed, there is a high probability of this transfer to the child. What has been difficult is spotting the gene (s) that determines the laterality of the brain.
- Vestibular Asymmetry during Prenatal Period: It has been noticed that the position of the fetus in the third trimester and the baby’s birth position can affect handedness.
As much as left-handed people are faced with a lot of prejudice, segregation, and embarrassment, it is still worthy of note that these persons have some advantages over the majority of right-handed people.
Conclusion
Previously there was a lot of stigma and embarrassment whenever one is said to be left-handed but due to much research about their distinctiveness, many people now are learning how to use the left hand and that stigma has long disappeared. Being a master in it doesn’t start one day – all you have to do is to be committed, follow the steps, and keep trying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why am I using my left hand more?
There is something called “cross dominance or mixed-handedness” and it occurs when one prefers the opposite hand for certain tasks other than the dominant hand. As a right-handed person, you can be stronger on the left hand and this is very normal.
Why is it so hard to use my left hand?
That is because you haven’t trained your left hand enough. Just keep on trying and it will become easy.
Should I practice writing with my left hand?
Yes, you should – it is very much possible to train your left hand to write. This is useful in case you injure your right hand and you can not use it.
Reference
Recommendations
Leave a Reply