Awesome new research proves that swearing can make you feel better and help you deal with pain. The resarch is summarized over on a blog at good.is:
But Stephens and company found that “…repeating a swear word, compared with repeating a neutral word, allowed participants to hold their hands in ice cold water for 40 seconds longer (on average), they perceived less pain on a pain perception scale (questionnaire) and they had a larger heart rate increase. Because we saw an increase in heart rate we think that people had an emotional reaction to swearing (indicated by the increase in heart rate), bringing about the fight or flight response, which is known to increase pain tolerance (make people more able to withstand pain).” In a nutshell, swearing has an analgesic, pain-lessening effect that could give Ibuprofen a run for its money, probably by working us into an aggressive, heightened state.
We all let out curse words when we stub our toes or slam out fingers in a door or something, but now there’s scientific proof that it actually does make us feel better.
Grant Hamilton
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