Length of fingers can reveal health, sporting prowess and sexuality, say experts
The length of your fingers can reveal how healthy you are and indicate whether you're at risk of developing certain diseases, according to experts.
Of particular interest are how long your index fingers are compared to your ring fingers. And these vary significantly between men and women. The former tend to have longer ring fingers, while for the latter both are roughly equal.
Finger length is decided in the womb and it all depends on how much testosterone you're exposed to, according to Carl Pintzka, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Long index fingers suggest the person was exposed to lower levels of testosterone in the uterus.
Experts claim the length of a person's fingers can reveal a lot about them (Getty Images)According to Pintzka, if your index finger is long you are more likely to perform better in verbal memory tasks, such as remembering lists of words. You'll also be less likely to perform better in sports and spatial awareness tasks. But having a longer finger is also linked to an increased risk of developing knee and hip osteoarthritis in women, a 2008 study revealed, reports the Sun. The condition causes joints to become painful and stiff and is the most common type of arthritis in the UK.
Meanwhile, men are able to determine how likely they are to go bald by the length of their fingers. Balding is six times more likely if their ring fingers are longer than their index fingers, scientists have claimed. Male baldness, which commonly affects two in three men, can allegedly be detected by the length of their digits. Experts conducted a study of 240 men aged above 37, who are diagnosed with androgenetic alopecia - otherwise known as male pattern baldness.
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Scientists found that men who have a shorter index finger than a ring finger on their right hand have an increased risk of male pattern baldness and are more likely to go bald. Pattern hair loss commonly occurs when the hair's growth cycle has been interfered with. Excessive levels of the sex hormone dihydrotestosterone are produced, also impacting heart health.
Researchers in Taiwan claim that extra length on your ring finger could suggest that people have more of this testosterone, which reduces the size of hair follicles. Finger length could also provide a clue to a person's sexuality, another study has suggested. A research team at Essex University looked at sets of identical twins where one of each set was straight and found that on average the homosexual twin had a greater difference between the length of their index and ring finger.
The study observed that in 18 sets of female twins, the lesbian twin had more "male-typical" hands than her straight sister. In 14 sets of male twins the gay twin had slightly more "male-typical" hands than their straight brother but the difference between the two was not viewed as significant.
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