Sure, it’s frowned upon to curse out loud, but a new study shows if you’re having pain, go ahead and let it rip. It may not be polite, but swearing actually helps relieve pain.
The swearing study, conducted at Keele University in England, measured how long sixty-seven college students could keep their hands immersed in frigid water. During the dunking, they could either repeat a curse word of their choice or chant a neutral word. When they swore, volunteers not only reported less pain but they were also able to keep their hands in the chilly waters approximately 40 seconds longer.
Exactly why cursing takes the edge off isn’t crystal clear, but researchers suspect that brain circuitry linked to emotion is involved. In earlier studies, it’s been shown that unlike normal language -- which relies on the outer few millimeters in the left hemisphere of the brain -- swearing is lodged in brain structures buried deep inside the right half.
One such brain structure is the amygdala, an almond-shaped group of neurons that can trigger a fight-or-flight response in which our heart rate climbs and we become less sensitive to pain. Indeed, the students' heart rates rose when they swore, a fact the researchers say suggests that the amygdala was activated.
