What's the first word out of your mouth when you stub your toe? If it's the f-bomb, it could be medicinal! Crazy health news today: Swearing might help you cope with pain.
Do you have the mouth of a truck driver? As much as I'd sometimes like to be able to swear like a sailor when the time calls for it, every time I do throw in an expletive, I just end up spouting something really embarrassing and incoherent. I can't swear. I just sound like I'm about 10 when I do.
But, researchers in England have good news for the potty-mouths among us. Dropping the f-bomb and other four-letter words when we're experiencing pain could actually make us feel better.
According to psychologist at Keele University in England, when study subjects stuck their hands in a bucket of ice water (I did this in a labor and delivery class, and believe me, it hurts!) , the group that was permitted to repeat a curse word to cope with the pain allowed them to withstand the pain and keep their hand in the ice longer than the group who didn't swear.
"Swearing increases your pain tolerance," concluded Richard Stephens, the study's lead author, to Time.
Last night my 2 year old whacked me in the shin with a (real) golf club. Could swearing have eased the pain? Maybe, but I still am glad I bit my tongue.
Do you swear? Do you wish you didn't? Does it help you cope with pain, do you think?
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