Q: Can swearing relieve pain?

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A: You hit your thumb with a hammer. It hurts. But chances are it will hurt less if you immediately yell a swearword. That’s what a team of British researchers recently discovered when they asked 67 college students to submerge their hands in icy water for as long as they could stand the pain. Half were told to repeat their favorite swearword. The other half repeated a neutral word describing a table, such as “brown” or “solid.”

The result: Students who swore -- most used words beginning with “f” or “s” -- reported significantly less pain. They were also able to keep their hands in the ice water longer -- an average of 190 seconds, compared to 140 seconds for those who used neutral terms.

Why would swearing reduce pain? One possibility is it serves to distract you. In addition, “increased pain tolerance is associated with [strong] emotional reactions,” says study co-author Richard Stephens, a professor of psychology at Keele University in England. For example, a hard slap on the back hurts. But when you feel elated because your team just won a big game, you hardly notice such a blow.  

This Live Right Live Well Expert Q&A was written by journalist Michael Castleman.