Rich Article Rewrite

Rich pg 42 Rewrite
By Kyle L. Haas


Hands down, right-handers may live longer than their left-handed friends a new study reveals.

Published Wednesday in the New England Journal of medicine, the study found that right-handers tend to live several years longer than their left-handed counterparts.

The study sought to examine the death and accident rates of right and left-handers in an attempt to explain the lacking number of lefties in the elderly population.

“The results are striking in their magnitude,” said California State University psychology professor and study author Diane Halpern.

“We knew for years that there weren’t as many old left-handers,” Halpern said. “Researchers thought that was because in the early years of the century, most people born left-handed were forced to change to their right hands.”

“So we thought we were looking at old people who used to be left-handed, but we weren’t,” she continued. “The truth was, there simply weren’t many left-handers left alive.”

Halpern, along with Stanley Coren, a researcher from University of British Columbia studied the death certificates of 987 citizens of two southern California counties. Relatives were then contacted regarding the deceased’s dominate hand.

Left-handers can thank modern engineering for contributions to their early demise, Halpern said.

“Almost all engineering is geared to the right hand and the right foot,” she said. “There are many more car and other accidents among left-handers because of their environment.”

About six times more likely the study found.

If you’re male and right-handed, you’ll see another 11 years on average. Females will see six more. But is that enough to tear the pencil out of your child’s left hand and surgically attach it to their right? In one word – no.

“It’s important that mothers of left-handed children not be alarmed and not try to chance which hand a child uses,” Halpern said. “(The study) should not, of course, be used to predict the lifespan of any one individual.”