They had 64 volunteers stick their hand in ice water while repeating a curse word of their choice.
They repeated the experiment but while having the volunteers repeat a more commonplace, neutral word.
They found that the volunteers were able to keep their hands in ice water longer while swearing.
The exact link between the increase in pain tolerance and swearing is unclear. It may be that swearing causes an increase in aggression which stimulates our sympathetic nervous system- our fight-or-flight response (ie. the tiger is chasing you and you either have to stop and fight the tiger or run like the dickens to get away from it!), in which our brains make the perception of pain less of a priority.
I'm not encouraging you to go around cursing like a sailor, so to speak. The sympathetic nervous system becomes more active during times of stress, which let's face it- most of us are under on a daily basis. Long term sympathetic activity can lead to insulin resistance, which is linked to diabetes, weight gain, polycystic ovarian syndrome, cardiovascular disease and many other conditions.
But it's interesting, isn't it? :)
source:
NeuroReport: 5 August 2009 - Volume 20 - Issue 12 - pp 1056-1060
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