Study: Swearing can relieve pain

Loki[D.d.G] · Post by **Loki[D.d.G]** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:50 am

Ever wondered why perfectly sane people resort to profanities without a second thought? Well, wonder no more. Here you have it, signed, sealed and delivered by researchers of psychology:

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Cut your finger? Hurt your leg? Start swearing. It might lessen the pain.

Researchers from the school of psychology at Britain's Keele University have found swearing can make you feel better as it can have a "pain-lessening effect," according to a study published in the journal NeuroReport.

Colleagues Richard Stephens, John Atkins and Andrew Kingston, set out to establish if there was any link between swearing and physical pain.

"Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon," says Stephens.

"It taps into emotional brain centers 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."

Their study involved 64 volunteers who were each asked to put their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice.

They then repeated the experiment using a more commonplace word that they would use to describe a table.

The researchers found the volunteers were able to keep their hands in the ice water for a longer when swearing, establishing a link between swearing and an increase in pain tolerance.

Stephens said it was not clear how or why this link existed but it could be because swearing may increase aggression.

"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," he said.

Here is a [url="http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE56C1B320090713"]link[/url] to the original article over at reuters.

penguin_king · Post by **penguin_king** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:48 pm

*stubs toe*

FFFFF*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:03 pm

Must be why I have high pain tolerance

Not that I swear a lot

Loki[D.d.G] · Post by **Loki[D.d.G]** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:47 pm

Screaming like a small child helps too. No need to resort to foul language then. Though which will be more irritating, i can't say

Siberys · Post by **Siberys** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:10 pm

Eh...there's really no such thing as foul language.

Hell....all the standard curse words aren't even english. They're foreign words that translate into English words that aren't deemed offensive.

For example, the S word (I say the S word as GB would censor it otherwise) is simply Gaelic for fecal matter.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:51 pm

Heh!

None of this would actually surprise me. When you drop something on your toe exclamations of "Oh fuddle duddle!" just don't feel nearly as satisfying as the four-lettered equivalents

Equally, if something just goes wrong, mild sounds of irritation simply don't have the same impact as a loudly uttered string of curses...

I *must* have a high pain threshold.. because when I'm sufficiently animated my vocabularly would probably make a dockworker blush...

All of that being said, I actually find people who feel it necessary to swear every third word really annoying. When there's a need to swear, fine.. but don't make it your first language...

Loki[D.d.G] · Post by **Loki[D.d.G]** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:27 pm

I supposed cultural upbringing should also be factored in here. Which would prolly mean a pirate (think Jack Sparrow) should have more pain tolerance than your average priest. Kinda makes sense when i think about it

Sain · Post by **Sain** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:36 pm

That explains why I almost never feel pain.

penguin_king · Post by **penguin_king** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 3:16 am

Siberys wrote:For example, the S word (I say the S word as GB would censor it otherwise) is simply Gaelic for fecal matter.

also the 'F' word come from the german Frichen (sp?) meaning 'to strike'

Loki[D.d.G] · Post by **Loki[D.d.G]** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:02 am

penguin_king wrote:also the 'F' word come from the german Frichen (sp?) meaning 'to strike'

Since english is used all over the world, all due to the british colonists, it has been adopting words and phrases from all sorts of cultures and languages over the years. The same goes with warlord conquerors, they will adopt the practices and philosophies of those they have conquered in order to lessen the shock, and gain the support of people who might otherwise rebel against the new leaders.

So, i suppose we cant be really surprised that the more colorful phrases from the english language are borrowed from others.

Claudius · Post by **Claudius** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:45 pm

My mom always used to swear while driving in heavy traffic..merges and so forth..

Millieway · Post by **Millieway** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 12:08 pm

I guess it is pretty safe to say that majority of the "English" words are loan words, not just the swears and curses.

In light of this discovery; if you get stung by a jellyfish, there is no point to puddle off about it. I've heard that puddling on the sting is somewhat beneficial all things considered.

Lady Dragonfly · Post by **Lady Dragonfly** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:05 pm

I wonder who paid for this "research". Let me guess: the British taxpayers.

It reminds me of another taxpayer-funded research (I saw the documentary a few years ago) - the scientists were analysing the physiological effects of watching porn (on women). The women's private parts were "wired up" and the researches were monitoring the data while the women were watching RRR movies. The experiment proved beyond reasonable doubt that women get excited when they watch porn. Who could have guessed?

Loki[D.d.G] · Post by **Loki[D.d.G]** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:25 pm

Lady Dragonfly wrote:The women's private parts were "wired up" and the researches were monitoring the data while the women were watching RRR movies.

I wonder what the effect would be on the researchers in question too. That would be an interesting set of data

Claudius · Post by **Claudius** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 12:53 am

"The experiment proved beyond reasonable doubt that women get excited when they watch porn. Who could have guessed?"

Maybe we can work this into a pickup line somehow...you know say your doing research?

Loki[D.d.G] · Post by **Loki[D.d.G]** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:47 am

Claudius wrote:Maybe we can work this into a pickup line somehow...you know say your doing research?

It would likely earn you a sharp slap, in which case swearing will be warranted to reduce the pain.

Robnark · Post by **Robnark** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:52 pm

[QUOTE=Millieway]I guess it is pretty safe to say that majority of the "English" words are loan words, not just the swears and curses.[/QUOTE]

Yup, but go back far enough and most words either come from the proto-human equivalent of something like "Quick, climb a tree, I saw a ****ing tiger!" or the dodgy wiring in the brain that means we like to make funny sounds when we're waving our arms about (I may have simplified this explanation somewhat). The rest is theft and mispronounciation.

[QUOTE=Lady Dragonfly]I wonder who paid for this "research". Let me guess: the British taxpayers.[/QUOTE]

No idea, I don't have a way of viewing the full article as I don't subscribe to the journal it was published in, but since I'm a proper geek for language and psychology I'd be only too happy to pay for research like this. For example, it challenges the theory that swearing is a 'catastophising' response that draws attention to the injury, but rather a way of artificially altering your emotional state that can have a real benefit.

Claudius · Post by **Claudius** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:17 pm

The question is what is really going on. In the mind. What happens when these people are swearing? It may be that the swearing happens to be an effective technique to produce something in the mind. Think of the screaming therapies. But obviously to an extreme the screaming good lose its affect if you just screamed constantly. I am convinced that there is some shift in the minds of the experimenties that they were allowed to tap into by the technique of swearing. But I believe that with mind training they could produce a similar effect without the swearing.

In other words I am discounting some of the directness of swearness = relief of pain. And replacing it with "swearing can help you tap into a mental shift that relieves pain". But I am not discounting swearing as an intuitive effective technique and I am not a force supporting the nature of not swearing as a taboo. If it relieves pain I am all for it!

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:27 pm

I just remembered...
a lot of women swear and scream blue bloody murder while in labour...

This may support the theory in question.

Millieway · Post by **Millieway** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 7:18 am

^ And at least lessen the possible guilt caused by a having a potty mouth.