What does being left-handed have to do with mental illness?

Posted on Aug 23rd 2007 2:36PM by Lauren Greschner

My mother is left-handed so she heard a lot about what a hardship it is to be a lefty. Everything from being forced in school to write with her right hand (it was the '50s after all), to having adapt to using a computer mouse (typical ones are made for right-handers) was a problem. Fair enough though, I can't imagine being left-handed makes life any easier. I've tried to use the lefty scissors we've got at our house and it's almost impossible, so I don't envy the left-handers of the world who have to adapt to a largely right-handed world.

It seems that being a southpaw may even affect your health. Martha Edwards posted recently on the different ways that being a lefty may affect your life, and I just came across this article that reports on a study with results that show those who are left-handed have a slightly higher risk of developing schizophrenia. Apparently human-handedness is genetic and the presence of the gene that controls which hand you favor -- dubbed LRRTM1 -- may also increase your chances of developing the mental condition.

Fortunately though, the results showed only a slightly increased risk and since there's not much you can do about your genetic makeup, I don't think it's really worth worrying about. Do any of you lefties out there find the results of this study to be of any concern?

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Tags: adapt, health, illness, increase, left-handed, lefty, mental, right-handed, schizophrenia, southpaw

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 16)

e^137 6-26-2009 @ 6:21PM

I am a left hander and I have problems with insomnia almost all the life. I am interested, if there is any study, how handedness is correlated with insomnia.

About shizofrenia: it can be consequence of depresion, insomnia causes depresion, so it is possible that this correlation exist. But, analyses will show better correlation with insomnia than with shizofrenia, because left handedness are more directly connected (if they really are).

Robert Turner 8-29-2007 @ 3:59PM

Oh, great. I have lived with all the nonsense claims about the inconvenience of being left handed my whole life, never considering it to be any type of problem whatsoever, even as I listened to all the whining about the inconvenience of using scissors (which is nonsense), etc. Now, we have some self-styled expert saying southpaws are more likely to be schizophrenic.

Where do these non-credentialed, self-appointed experts come from??? If this is a topic for publication, we as Americans, have far too much time on our hands.

Tom 8-29-2007 @ 4:00PM

We lefties are the only ones in our right minds. (The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body). Actually, everyone is born left-handed. When you commit your first sin, you become right handed.

sinister 12-21-2008 @ 11:43PM

But the right hemisphere of the brain is a moron. Without the other hemisphere you wouldn't be able to convince people that they're inferior to you

Lefty DeVore 8-29-2007 @ 4:00PM

Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Ludwig van Beethoven, Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein were all left-handed.

C. 8-29-2007 @ 4:00PM

left handedness can also result from being the remaining one of a pair of identical mirror image twins,and many do not know they even had a twin,due to the vanishing twin phenomenom.ie-many twin pairs fail to develop,and the result is only one baby is born,the other never known about.

Kim 8-29-2007 @ 4:00PM

While I am not a lefty, I am the mother of 1, the sister of 1, the granddaughter of 1, and the friend of 1. The most noticeable thing I see with left handedness is the insomnia. Growing up my parents used to worry about my brother not sleeping. As an adult he still only sleep 2 to 4 hrs a nite. My grandfather is still suffering from insmonia. I have also noticed my youngest child has never slept more then 7 hrs a nite. (she is a teenager!) My best friend also suffers from it too, which makes me wonder if there is a link between handedness and sleep? Anyone know of any studies the were or are being done?

kelz 8-29-2007 @ 4:01PM

I am the daughter of a lefty, a daughter-in-law of one and my son(oldest of my three) is a lefty..and he doesn't sleep either. He never really took naps and at night can stay up till 1am then be up at 6am just fine. Where as my other two who are not leftys, go to bed early and take naps still(2 an 16months) So maybe the lefty is part of insomnia. But left handed people are very smart!! They use both sides of their brain whereas we use one!

Ronda M 8-29-2007 @ 4:01PM

I am a lefty and this study does concern me a bit. Although my mom is not left handed she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. I also know several lefty's and we all have insomnia. Maybe a lack of sleep and being forced to adapt to a right handed world contributres to the schizophrenia. Our brains are tired AND have to do something it really wasn't meant to do.

KATHIE 8-29-2007 @ 4:01PM

Im left handed and i have never had any mental problems other than having right handed people tell me that its' wrong or strange to use my left hand for all the things that they use their right hand for. If it feels normal for you to use your right hand than it feels normal for a lefty to use their left hand. I really do not think that left handed people have anything to worry about b/c leftys or really alRIGHT.

Maureen 8-29-2007 @ 4:01PM

I'm a lefty. I don't sleep well. As for scizo. Maybe it's because most leftys were forced to use their right hands causing them to use the left side of their brain. I was blessed with a nun named Sr. Monica, who,when I started school told my grandmother upon her compaining about my not being forced to use my right hand, "We don't do that anymore, besides you are not her Mother."
God Bless Sr. Monica

pat 8-29-2007 @ 4:02PM

I am left handed so in response to whether I am concerned about the results of this study,
Yes I am!
No I'm not!!

Pat

KARIN 8-29-2007 @ 4:02PM

Schizophrenia, huh? Well, THAT'S just NOT true.... YES IT IS! No it's not. YES IT IS!. No it's not.

sanman0007 8-29-2007 @ 4:02PM

wait a minute..... I just asked the other me if he thought that was possible and he said no.... so thats good enough for us.

Dee 8-29-2007 @ 4:02PM

I am left-handed and always saw it as a gift. It made me special. The comments about lefties having insomnia don't apply to me. In fact, if anything, I sleep too much. My mom was great when I was growing up because I had a left-handed bowling ball and scissors. The only item I still have major issue with is a manual can opener.

So, lefties, unite and be happy. We are a special minority.

sleepy 8-29-2007 @ 4:02PM

my girlfriend and i are both lefties... and we average like 11hours of sleep a night. i sleep a lot. sleep.

Rose 8-29-2007 @ 4:02PM

This is such crap! They have not determined how handedness is determined and they have not determined whether schizophrenia is genetics either! So the whole thing is not true. And as for insomnia there are a lot of right-handed people with that, so again its a coincidence, not a cause of being a lefty.

Maggie 8-29-2007 @ 4:03PM

I didn't know about the lefty problems with insomnia or the vanishing twin phenomenon. One of my granddaughters is a "remaining twin." Her twin had to be aborted because it stopped developing in the uterus and could have endangered her life, too. She is not 3 yet, so we really can't tell about her hand dominance.

Untreated insomnia can lead to severe mental problems. It could be that some lefty mental problems arise from that. I developed horrible insomnia when I became clinically depressed. Even though my depression is totally under control with medication I still have insomnia so bad that, if I did not take the two different kind of insomnia medication every night, I could never go to sleep at all. When you do not get enough of the REM sleep, it affects your brain's functioning on many levels. I'm not sure about this number, but I think it is about eleven days that a person can go without sleep and they will die. Insomnia is a serious problem that should be treated.

Sandra Shelby 8-29-2007 @ 4:03PM

I am left handed and both my sons are left handed. When I was in school, at certain times I was treated like being left handed was a handicap. I have adapted nicely to the right handed world and can use almost everything that is made for right handed people. I am happy to see that my sons are treated better and that being left handed isn't such a oddity any more. I have never had a problem driving or using a mouse for the computer, and my sons haven't either. I do not, or ever have I suffered from insomnia.The biggest problem I have is sitting next to a right handed person. Our arms always bump. I was always proud to be left handed especially after I found out Paul McCartney of the Beatles was too.