DH wants us to go Left Handed. HELP.

[PetulaClarkMementoMori]

Not sure if this is the correct thread, but here goes....

My DH and I have been together for over 30 years and, as we're getting on we've both become more aware of and conscious to avoid what I suppose is called Cognitive decline.

I enjoy crosswords and reading, so I think I'm at least using my brain daily. DH has never bothered much with what he ( Mostly jokingly ) calls 'Book-Learning'. Anyway, all of a sudden he's become an 'expert'. He told me he'd read an article ( Although I suspect he means he's seen a two- minute video on Tok Tok ) which claims using your left hand for tasks that you would normally use your right hand for can stave off cognitive decline and now he thinks this is a miracle cure-all.
And, of course, he's become obsessed, everything has to be done left-handed, and if he see's me using my right hand, he booms 'Left!'. I can be chopping vegetables or opening a jar of coffee and I'll suddenly hear 'Left!' in my earhole. I've told him it's annoying, but he's as stubborn as a goat that's been struck by lightning.
Yesterday he spent over two hours repairing the lawnmower left-handed and somehow thinks it's turned him into bloody Einstein in a cloth cap.
I've tried suggesting some 'alternatives', as I read that learning a new language is effective. I've always fancied trying Portuguese, or even Hausa or Finnish. But I suspect trying to entice him with any of this will be met with the equivalent of 'Foreign Muck', and it will be the Moussaka situation all over again.
Honestly, I could scream. I know men get fixated, especially as they get older but this is honestly too much. I'm no Carol Vorderman so can someone explain whether there's any truth in his claims of Neural-plasticity in the brain?
I really need to get some answers because if I keep hearing 'Left!' I may well go hard right! In fact, the other day whilst driving he started rabbitting Left! Left! and it was only when I realised that he was pointing to the entrance to the Garden Centre, that I heeded what he was saying.
So, is there any truth to it? And is anyone else's aging husband going as mad as an Aardwark at an all you can eat Ant-Buffet?
I better go, I can hear him rumaging in the airing cupboard and if he see's me typing with two hands it'll be all she wrote. Literally!

I think I’d just stop holding his hand if I were you 🤣

As a left-hander I applaud any right-hander learning how the world is designed to our disadvantage, but as a left-handed spouse I'd be practising my right hook.

Me too OP - we need to hear about the moussaka 👂

I do the same, especially when I’m painting.

This pretty much. And using sharp knives with a non dominant hand is NEVER going to be a wise move unless you are an amputee or stroke victim and have to learn it. And its a struggle because I have helped people to do it. Tell him if he bellows in your ear again you will put the knife where the sun don't shine. I mean I am thinking that this is matbe a joke but if it isn't then you truly do need to take steps to nip the idiot ideas and the bullying in the bud.

I will be forever amazed at the lengths men will go to to make their wives uncomfortable. Is he your commander to be yelling in your ear? I would quite genuinely buy one of those klaxons and every time he had the temerity to yell at me he’d get the klaxon. Ridiculous.

this.

@PetulaClarkMementoMori yes it seems that using yur left hand can help 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

But as you said so does learning - like a new language - doing crosswords etc…
Interestingly so does having the Shingle vaccines (Apparentky reduces rates of dementia)
And so is ensuring you eat enough omega 3, your level of Vit B12 and D are high enough etc….

I would tell him that it’s great he is looking after his brain.
But to stop shouting at you when you’re doing something as it’s an accident waiting to happen.
Then ignore and greyrock him.

Sorry this is just funny! I agree learning languages would be better.

Oh it's a saying we have in our village, probably just a local thing, but something people have always said. I think the idea that goats are stubborn, plus, if they were then struck by lightning, they'd be even more rooted to the spot.

You can get the same effect to your brain just by standing on one leg. For even more impact, stand on one leg with your eyes closed. No need to bellow left.

If he thinks moussaka's 'foreign muck' when it's the tamest, most English -adjacent food you could make he sounds like a moron. LTB.😂

@PetulaClarkMementoMori Tell him that you've discovered that standing on one leg for as long as you can is very good for the neural pathways, improves balance and proprioception, and helps to prevent falls in later life.

Once you have practiced balancing on each leg, step it up a gear and close your eyes while you do it. You will need to be standing close to something just in case you lose your balance and need to grab hold of it for this part though.

Oh, and tell him it is much more important to practice things equally on both sides of the body, not one side over the other. Get him obsessed with standing on one leg and he'll forget about the left-handed thing.

All this is true by the way, and it really does do you good.

Here for the moussaka.

Thanks 😂😂😂

Me too

I have done this for years. I trashed my knee many years ago, walking into a bog when walking my dog in the dark. I saw a lovely physio who fixed my knee and told me how to keep it fixed One of the things I have to do if it plays up is to stand on one leg and do small controlled knee bends, first one leg then the other so I do it when I clean my teeth. I mentally sing one verse of "Sons of the sea" for each leg.

Yes, it’s definitely a thing. Anything that gets your brain working more is good. Puzzles, learning an instrument or a language or new dance steps etc. I dont think any one thing is particularly better than the other, it makes sense to mix up a few different activities to include mental and physical work outs, but of course nothing is a fail safe.

He does sound a bit annoying though.

Oh, I'd not be inclined to call him a bully, it's just that he gets fixated, set in his ways and ideas. And there have been times when he has been right in his persistance, I will say that. We had a terrible do with the electricity company fobbing us off with nonsense about our meter being affected by seismic activity and he dug a trench in the back garden and conducted an experiment that showed they were in the wrong. So he can be useful!

One way to counter this (apart from burying him with your left hand) is to become super-interested in preventing cognitive decline yourself, and come up with lots of ideas that will annoy him. E.g. signing you both up for a gym if he hates exercise, or insisting that you need to eat stinky oily fish three times a week when he can’t stand it. Challenge him to endless games of scrabble if you know you’re better at it than him. Insist on only speaking to him in Klingon. I’m sure you can come up with something appropriate 😁

@PetulaClarkMementoMori

thank you for your post, it was like stepping back into 'old Mumsnet' 🤗

as loads of people have said, it's just about creating new neural pathways, but not sure how much difference a lot of it makes as we get older.

I would tell him 'no', you're not doing it. You do other things to stave off dementia, so just to STOP barking at you, or you will bark at him until he does some 'book learning'. Crosswords or a new language/musical instrument.

I had a stroke 18 months ago. I can use my dominant (right) hand to do some things still (such as type this) but haven't got much strength in it or feeling in it. My once very small neat writing is now huge & toddler like). I can't carry anything breakable because unless I'm very focussed on it, it will just fall out of my hand & because I can't feel it, I won't know unless it makes a noise (or mess) when it lands on the ground! 18 months on I now do some things automatically with my
Left hand (like carry & drink a cup of coffee - I had to spill a LOT before it became the default!) after 57 years, not surprising really! 🤣🤣. And some things I still cannot do with my left hand because the angle/feel is all wrong (like cleaning my teeth) sorry ... all that to say I don't think it's the most effective way to ward off dementia.

but even if it was I'd tell him to STFU.

oh I wouldn't say he's a bully but I would say that the behaviour is.

Brilliant 😊

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01296-0/abstract

There are things that can help prevent some types of cognitive decline but they are mostly all the good advice you already get around healthy lifestyle - keep your blood pressure and cholesterol in check, keep your weight in the average range, have regular vision and hearing checks, don't smoke, don't drink too much etc. Keeping your brain active is on the list somewhere but it doesn't specify doing things left handed.

Tell DH he is increasing your blood pressure with his "Left" nonsense and that he is potentially putting you at risk. Then enjoy your crossword.