Swearing can help to relieve pain

SWEARING can provide effective relief from pain – but not if people swear many times a day, according to research.

Experts found that swearing helped people cope with pain in the short term, but the frequency of swearing played an important role.

Researchers at Keele University’s School of Psychology recruited 71 undergraduates who were asked to carry out a cold-water challenge while either repeating a swear word or a non-swear word.

The students put their hand in room temperature water for three minutes to act as a control before plunging it into cold 5C water for as long as they could while repeating their word.

The level of perceived pain together with a change in heart rate were compared while people swore or said their non-swear word. Writing in the Journal of Pain, the authors concluded: “Swearing increased pain tolerance and heart rate compared with not swearing.

However, they added: “The more often participants reported swearing in daily life, the less extra time they were able to hold their hand in ice-cold water when they repeated a swear word, compared with when they repeated a non-swear word.”