Swearing Can Make You Feel Better

New Research Reveals That Swearing Can Actually Increase Pain Tolerance

Researchers from Keele University’s School of Psychology have determined that swearing can have a ‘pain-lessening effect’, according to new study published in the journal NeuroReport.

While swearing is often a common response to pain, Dr Richard Stephens and his colleagues, John Atkins and Andrew Kingston, were surprised to discover that no links had been established between swearing and the actual experience of physical pain. Since swearing often has a ‘catastrophising’ or exaggerating effect, serving to embellish or overstate the severity of pain, Stephens and his team hypothesised that swearing would actually decrease the individual’s tolerance of pain.

The Ice Water Test

Enlisting the help of 64 undergraduate volunteers, the team set out to test their theory. Each individual was asked to submerge their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice; they were then asked to repeat the experiment, this time using a more commonplace word that they would use to describe a table. Despite their initial expectations, the researchers found that the volunteers were able to keep their hands submerged in the ice water for a longer period of time when repeating the swear word, establishing a link between swearing and an increase in pain tolerance.

Fight-Or-Flight Response

While it isn’t clear how or why this link exists, the team believes that the pain-lessening effect occurs because swearing triggers our natural ‘fight-or-flight’ response. They suggest that the accelerated heart rates of the volunteers repeating the swear word may indicate an increase in aggression, in a classic fight-or-flight response of ‘downplaying feebleness in favour of a more pain-tolerant machismo.’ What is clear is that swearing triggers not only an emotional response, but a physical one too, which may explain why the centuries-old practice of cursing developed and still persists today.

Dr Richard Stephens said: “Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon. It taps into emotional brain centres and appears to arise in the right brain, whereas most language production occurs in the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain. Our research shows one potential reason why swearing developed and why it persists.”

There you go folks... the next time you start rising up the kip scale maybe you should jump straight in with this Mother Fu@*king painful bas@*rd, why is this Fu@*king Sh*te happening to me aaaaaH...! Or you could just suck on some O2


Lefty...!

I can say that my vocabulary increased by %^$&, *#^$, and *!@%%#(*&^ when I got ch.  Works for me.   

I may start with some single syllable cursing under my breath during the "oh poor me" phase of a bad hit, but I tend to make unintelligible sounds when it progresses.

Hasn't helped yet, so maybe I need to improve my limited vocabulary without developing a propensity to pontificate.

Hi Lefty,

So i can swear, curse and god mad and then blame it on CH wow im impressed of to work this afternoon so i can tell my department head what a complete waste of space he is. This is powerfull stuff upset with the wife go of your head and blame CH, familly and friends getting right on your left breast (didnt want to say tit) go balistic and blame CH. OOOOOHHHHHHHH the potential " excuse me Mr traffic warden has anyone told you what a complete b*****d you are" "sorry ive got CH.

have to be carefull around my mother, she hates bad language

mark (thinking of the possible potential  )