150
TIL Humans have a tendency to walk counterclockwise over walking clockwise
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2026
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My assumption for this would be that the majority of humans are right-side dominant. So they tend to lead with their right foot and their right leg is probably stronger meaning they tend to take marginally larger steps on the right leading to a counterclockwise gait
Similarly to the OP, I was told in Boy Scouts that if you're lost in the woods you need to stay where you are because if you do try to walk out you'll likely just go in circles and be harder to find
The article didn't mention this, but the reel mentioned a study that left handed people had approximately the same rate of counterclockwise dominance as right handed people
i mean if i sit really really still i swear i can feel spin in my brain. mine is clockwise. not sure what that means, but my wife always backs a different way out the driveway than i do.
Oh interesting, I wonder if the cause is something else then? I do know a lot of left handed people end up learning how to do some physical activities right handed because it's easier but I doubt that would be enough to make their right leg stronger
someone further down linked a paper, and I think I found the answer?
‘For example, the reason for this tendency toward directional walking is diversely attributable to (1) an inapt spiraling mechanism in the nervous system that is used in the absence of vision (Guldberg, 1897; Schaeffer, 1928), (2) biomechanicsand sensorial asymmetries, particularly hand and foot laterality (Day & Goins, 1999; Scharine & McBeath, 2002), (3) otolith system asymmetry from the fetal position (Previc & Saucedo, 1992), (4) hemispheric asymmetry of the dopaminergic system (Mohr, Landis, Bracha, Fathi, & Brugger, 2003; Mohr, Brugger, Bracha, Landis, & Viaud-Delmon, 2004; Mohr & Lievesley, 2007), and (5) sensorial signal interference, in which acoustic signals, such as unpredictable noises, and postural signals can lead to greater directional deviance (Millar, 1999).’
so you are partially right. also sorry for the way that pasted, I have no idea why. I’ll add a screenshot.
They tell you to stay put so that the bears don't have to walk as far for their meal