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Is being ambidextrous fitness negative in any sense? Does it require more energy to power an ambidextrous brain/nervous system?
Comment by FrenchFry_Frosty at 29/06/2017 at 21:12 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I've read mixed data about this. From what I can tell, natural ambidexterity is either just as good as typical handedness, or can be a sign of better brain development in certain regions related to coordination and spacial reasoning. However, forced ambidexterity. Which is usually the result of a left handed child being forced to become right handed due to social pressure. (such as a cultural belief that left handedness is evil, or the parent's belief that it will be more beneficial for the child to "fit in"). This type of ambidexterity can lead to learning disorders, as it forces the brain to focus on rewiring it's natural neural networks rather than using what is already the most efficient network for dexterous actions. It can also leave the child with psychological blocks which may hold them back intellectually or dexterously due to negative reinforcement about which hand they use dominantly.
My conclusion is that Natural ambidexterity, which is quite rare, could be a sign of higher performance in certain areas of intelligence. Forced ambidexterity can lead to detrimental effects on a child's intellect and psyche. However willingly learned ambidexterity could be a positive brain exercise, akin to learning a new language.
I've personally worked on becoming more ambidextrous, but it is not easy. I started with doing simple tasks exclusively with my non-dominant hand until they felt natural, and progressed to more difficult tasks. Now I'm working on learning to do highly dexterous tasks with my left hand. I've noticed that it has made me able to switch between hands more effectively and even use both hands for two separate tasks at the same time rather than using one hand for a task and using the other as a helper hand.