07 May 2012

In pain? Research shows swearing helps

479 views 1 min to read

Before you go leaping from the rooftops, shouting profanities of joy that you have finally been given a great excuse to swear without guilt, think again. Apparently it only helps if you don’t ‘overuse’ your swear words.

Everyday health

0 ratings

0 comments

Researchers from the School of Psychology, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK, recruited 71 undergraduate students (lucky them!) to plunge their hands into cold water of 5°C and see if swearing helped with the pain. Participants were asked to choose a swear word they might use when they banged their head accidentally, and a word they would use to describe a table. They were then asked to see how long they could leave their hand in the icy cold water when they were repeating the swear word over and over, verses when they were repeating the word for table.

The study revealed that 52 study participants (73%) kept their hand in the cold water on average 31 seconds longer when swearing, and their tolerance to pain and heart rate increased compared to when they were not swearing. Interestingly, participants who reported that they swore less frequently on a daily basis tended to keep their hand in the longest.

Why does frequent swearing reduce the effect? Researchers believe it is because of a long known psychological phenomenon called habituation. Swearing produces an emotional stimulus, which if repeated consistently, becomes less effective. In relation to pain, the emotional stimulus of swearing is likely to induce the emotions fear, aggression and/or anger, and these emotions are thought to help to increase pain threshold.

References available upon request

0 ratings

0 comments

To add a comment or reply, please login or sign up for an account.

Recommended for you

Chimchurri Chicken Buddha Bowl

How to support your immunity

Festive Foccasia

Good health changes everything