I stubbed my toe! Dang!
I barked my shin! Darn!
I got run over by a bus! Dagg-nabbit!
But if I cuss a little, I’ll feel better.
So says a study from “The Journal of Pain.”
BTW, I definitely do not have a subscription to that journal. (You have to pay for it.)
An article at medicalnewstoday.com says that experiments show cursing can provide short-term pain relief.
That is, if you don’t normally curse a lot.
The study, from the School of Psychology at the University of Keele in England, expanded on findings from a study done in 2009 that showed that cursing eases pain.
In the earlier study, it was found that people who endured an “ice-cold water challenge” were able to withstand
Emilio Labrador/flickr
Swearing actually helps alleviate pain.
the pain longer if they repeatedly said swear words than people who underwent the challenge while saying “neutral words.” (what’s a “neutral word” – “vanilla?”)
And what does an “ice-cold water challenge” involve? I shudder to think.
In the newer study researchers discovered that subjects who admitted to using swear-words frequently every day (at a maximum rate of 60 per day, which researchers called a “constant curser”), derived no greater benefit from swearing during the ice-water challenge than from uttering neutral words.
But people who normally only swore just a few times a day were able to endure the ice-cold water challenge for twice as long when they repeated swear-words than when they used the neutral words.
Twice as long? Now that is pretty dad-gummed longer.
The researchers said swearing helps people withstand pain because of the emotional response it produces in the swearer. The emotions – aggression or anger – lead to “stress-induced analgesia,” a natural form of pain relief that results from the surge in adrenaline that goes with the body's natural “fight or flight" response to stress.
However, people who curse a lot become “habituated.” The emotional response becomes weaker with use, resulting in a weaker effect as pain relief.
Used in moderation, one researcher explained, swearing can be a useful alternative pain-reliever in situations where someone can't easily get medical care or pain-relieving medicine.
As a personal injury attorney, I often have clients who have undergone pain, or are even still enduring it. I do my best to help them legally, but I can’t help them physically.
Of course, many people don’t ever want to say a dirty word. But if it can ease your pain without your feeling it to be offensive, I say, “Let ’er rip!”
Gee whiz! I hope this is helpful.
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