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!

have you tried Squaredle? its excellent.

😂

I'm a bit odd. I'm right-handed but use my left hand for some things and can't do them with my right. Like playing Jenga, and using a mouse. That all started when I lost the use of my right hand temporarily after an accident; I used my left hand for those things and never went back. I also used to do theatrical make-up for an amateur dramatics group (Panto, yay!) and used my right hand for applying make-up to one side of their face and my left hand for the other side. I still do my own make-up that way. My hobby involves the use of wire and I can manipulate it with either hand, and frequently swap from one hand to the other mid-activity.

I can also read upside-down. Told you I was odd.

DD was ambidextrous until she was about 5.

This.

I can imagine my DH getting a bit fixated on something like this, he’s an all in kinda guy too. Thanks for the laughs, op!!

Mr Google's opinion:

"Many people try using their non-dominant hand for daily tasks (like brushing teeth or writing) to build new neural pathways. While this practice—known as neuroplasticity—can challenge your brain and make you more mindful, there is no direct clinical evidence that it staves off cognitive decline or prevents dementia on its own."

He is taking an extreme point of view - definitely annoying, don't know if you find it concerning. You shouldn't have to put up with this.

Been doing that for years! But then I was born that way.

We left handers often have to do things right handed as we live in a right hand world. Many tasks with tools, equipment, situations, design can only be done right handed. We notice these things, the other 90% don’t.

I have read about this before, but apparently brushing your teeth left-handed once a day is sufficient! You don’t need to suddenly force yourself to do every little thing with your non-dominant hand. Even better if you brush your teeth whilst stood on one leg, apparently (seriously!) as it helps to activate different parts of the brain at the same time. Your husband is taking it to a wildly unnecessary extreme!

There is truth to it, but it doesn't have to be as extreme as your DH is suggesting. There have been some studies showing children develop at a greater rate if they spend 10 minutes a day writing with their left hand.

😂

Honestly, I'd kill the fucker and dig the hole with my left hand. @AMurderofMurderingCrows 😂

Tell him he can sign the divorce papers with his left hand.
@EssCarGo 😂

Some of the replies are gold (these are just the ones I remember..maybe I should go left?) & also once again why we need the laughing emoji back!

I can also read upside-down.

So can I, and back to front.

This was a very useful skill until my manager realised I might be skilled in ways he didn't appreciate. It's still a useful skill at times, to be fair.

My new manager is left-handed, as is my sister. I suspect my father was - he wrote right-handed, but used most tools with his left hand. He was of an age where it might have been literally beaten out of him. I am right-handed, but it's not a strong dominance, and I do sometimes use my left hand. Even my left-handed writing is mostly legible, if not as free-flowing as my normal writing.

I'm learning languages and I do yoga with a fair few balancing postures, so I might be okay.

Even better if you brush your teeth whilst stood on one leg, apparently (seriously!) as it helps to activate different parts of the brain at the same time.

I do this too @blenny23 it's good for toning your core too apparently

The idea that using your left hand isn't entirely nonsense (I was typing on the bus earlier) but I don't know any evidence specifically related to dementia. And as others have said, there are many other more interesting things you can do to keep your brain working well.

Think of it like exercise - person A says that squats are the only way to get fit and must be done 50 times an hour everyday. Person B says that a variety of types of exercise work - walking or swimming or tai chi or rock climbing or parkour all work, as long as you aren't just sitting on the sofa watching TV.

Which is more plausible in terms of health advice? The same applies to keeping your brain young and healthy. Unfortunately, your DH is stuck with advice from person A.

Also, getting hearing tests and hearing aids if needed is very important. probably because hearing loss makes people socially isolated which is not good for them.

There is truth in it, but it is in doing repetitive things - like switching from right to left hand mouse use not in doing everything he says and honestly I would not do hazardous stuff like cutting up vegetables using a left hand approach. Get him to learn to write with his left hand and tell him to do everything else as normal. Once he's mastered his handwriting he can move onto other things...

As stubborn as a goat thats been struck by lightening is the best thing Ibe ever heard in my life.

Oh, bless you!

Parkour is an urban action sport that involves running, jumping, and vaulting over obstacles while adapting your movement to the environment.
Probably not something you want to take up!

Tell him you'll do one activity left handed (preferably one that doesn't involve a sharp knife) if he'll go to a tea dance with you. As the earlier poster said, it's doing something new / different that's important, not using your left hand per se.

https://www.dementiauk.org/information-and-support/about-dementia/causes-and-risk-factors/

I would be working my way through all of these lifestyle risk factors (you can't do much about the genetic ones) before I started doing this left-handed thing.

Just keep saying 'you do you' very calmly and carry on with your crosswords and puzzles.

He's right sort of. I'm a lefty. They've done MRI scans and our brains light up on both sides. Oddly I can do a lot of things right handed automatically. So does that make me ambidextrous.

My left eye is my dominant eye I use a shotgun left handed play sports like tennis, rounders, but hockey right handed. Use the mouse on the computer right handed. Use a knife and fork the right way round. Hold a cuppa in my right hand or left.

I think lefties have to adapt to a right handed world.

However, I think that doing my crosswords, reading books, is very important. Music also apparently.

If you want to do something left handed squeeze a ball.

Well they used to punish left-handed children and force them to use their right hands, didn't they. What was the result? Did all left-handed people become super-intelligent? Or did they spend their whole lives being seen as clumsy, stupid, and inferior?

I'm 47 and even when I was a child, I used to come across grown-ass adults who treated me as if I had some kind of disability for being left-handed - as if I was a right-handed person who somehow had lost the use of my right hand, and now had to struggle through life trying to do things with my left hand instead. When in reality, lefties are probably more evenly skilled with both hands, because so many things are set up for right-handed use.

I like to be shifty! The name I've just remembered is cross dominance which I think sounds rather kinky!

I think there’s a bit of fact behind the idea, however, shouting LEFT into the ear of someone chopping vegetables is extremely stupid.

What happens when your brain gets used to using the left hand too? Do you need to start using your feet? What happens when you run out of feet? Mouth? Then what? It's a slippery slope I fear!

Figuring out how to do things with your left hand may be a good mental exercise for right handed people. Mindlessly doing everything with your non-dominant hand is idiotic. Overdoing it causes cognitive and developmental problems with children.

I’m ambidextrous and do switch between the two but no way would I suddently start trying to chop veg with my left hand

cognitive decline over being one handed any day 🤣

suppose it could be fun if your husband wasn’t being a fun sponge about it

Out of over 8 billion people, I doubt it's just you.