Richard Stevens of the School of Psychology at Keele University in England recently led a study to see if swearing can actually lessen the amount of physical pain people feel.
The researchers first asked 67 students to write four words to describe a table and their favorite profanity. Each participant was then asked to put his hands in ice-cold water for as long as possible. In the first trial, participants were asked to repeat their favorite profanity while their hands were submerged in the water. In the next trial, each participant was asked to repeat the commonplace words they had written.
Researchers found that students of both genders kept their hands immersed in the cold water for an average of 40 seconds longer when they repeated a profanity rather than the table-related words. Cursing was also found to increase all participants' heart rates. Female participants, however, reported less pain in addition to experiencing a greater increase in heart rate. Researchers concluded that there is an emotional reaction to swearing, characterized by an increase in heart rate that may signal a fight-or-flight response, which, in turn, can increase the body's tolerance to pain.
-compiled by Surabhi Bhatt
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