Can Swearing Reduce Pain?

A while back, I wrote about how swearing can relieve stress. But in one of the first studies of its kind, researchers at Keene University in England found that letting a few choice words fly can actually increase your tolerance to pain. (And probably would help those contestants on “Hell’s Kitchen” when they forget that the pan they’re grabbing is 500 degrees. Or when Gordon Ramsey yells at them.)

So…no wonder why the first utterances out of your mouth when you whack your shin on the coffee table aren't "happy birthday."

67 undergraduate students at the University, male and female, volunteered to hold their hands in a tub of ice water for as long as they could while repeating the cuss word of their choice. Then they did it again while repeating a more common word. The researchers expected that swearing would lessen pain tolerance, since they thought that often people swear to excess when undergoing relatively low amounts of pain (called pain “catastrophizing.”) But they found just the opposite -- the volunteers could keep their hands submerged longer while repeating the swear word than the common word, and reported a decreased feeling of pain. Interestingly, the women felt a greater reduction in pain perception than men in the study.

"Our research shows one potential reason why swearing developed and why it persists," said Richard Stephens, one of the authors of the study, which will be published in an upcoming edition of the journal NeuroReport. He also suggested that swearing triggers our natural "fight or flight" response, releasing hormones that increase our pain tolerance.

This makes total sense to me. We humans are still animals, after all, and swearing when we experience acute pain could be a very old defensive reflex. While it probably won't reduce any need you might have for major painkillers, the next time you stub your toe may not require any more attention than a good long blue streak. Just try not to drop that “f” bomb in from the kids.

When you hit that funny bone, do you swear like a sailor? Or do you use other euphemisms? (And the more creative they are, the more points you get!)