Sorry palmists, but you’re being shown the finger. Scientists say the length of our digits provide the most accurate pointers to our personality, along with our IQ level, risk of disease, sexual orientation, career preference and athletic ability. One look at our fingers, and researchers can even foretell how well (or badly) we drive.
For women entrepreneurs, for instance, getting ahead in life depends on the size of their ring finger. A longer digit is not only synonymous with greater mathematical skill, risk-taking and assertiveness, it even guarantees success in competitive sports.
Not that length always heralds good news. A study published in the British Journal of Cancer says men whose ring fingers are longer than their index fingers are more likely to develop prostate cancer. They are also more likely to have a sharp tongue, be physically aggressive and have a tendency to pick fights. The good news? They’re likely to be high achievers in sports (being more athletically inclined) and great risk-takers in business. Researchers say the most successful financial traders—and sprinters—have the longest fourth fingers going.
In women, a long ring finger predicts a good sense of direction and spatial cognition which, in turn, makes them better drivers than others of their sex.
So how do some people have longer ring fingers than others? Apparently, during fetal development in the womb, there’s sometimes a surge in testosterone in the middle of the second trimester. This hormonal flood goes on to affect the foetus, and subsequently the person, for life, increasing or decreasing his/her risk of certain diseases to making him/her loses the temper—but not way—more easily. The giveaway? A ring finger that’s significantly longer than the index finger, or a finger quotient that’s less than 1.
To determine your own finger quotient, measure the index and ring finger of your right hand, from the first crease on your palm to the tip of your finger. Then divide the length of the index finger by the length of the ring finger; the result is your FQ.
A shorter index finger indicates things both good and bad. Unhappily, it’s a sign of knee osteoarthritis risk, particularly in women, compared with people whose fingers are of equal length, or those who have a longer index finger. It’s also a sign of low fertility in females. (It’s the other way round in men).
At the other end, a high digit ratio—which means with very little difference between the index and ring finger, or a longer index finger—tends to be found among men with oral cancer, compared with men with pre-cancerous oral lesions or no lesions at all. Since testosterone protects against heart attacks, there’s also a lower risk of early heart attacks in men with the smallest index-to-ring finger ratios.
Not altogether surprisingly, lesbian women tend to have a more masculine (long ring, short index) finger arrangement than their heterosexual counterparts.
Sexual orientation is not only the giveaway. Old wives used to relate penile size to a man’s hand, foot or nose. But that was just an old chestnut. Researchers in South Korea say it all boils down to finger size. The lower the ratio between the length of a man’s index finger and ring finger (of his right hand), the longer his penis. That should make it easy for women out to size up potential sexual partners. Hand holding just got more rewarding.
Shampa@newindianexpress.com