The surprising health benefits of swearing

 

Most of us swear from time to time and although it is discouraged from a young age, it does seem that cussing has some surprising health benefits. Indeed, a new study undertaken by psychologists at Keele University has found that swearing can increase our physical strength, increasing our capacity for exercise.

Swearing it out

Participants were asked to swear before completing exercise tasks, with 29 people doing an intense 30-second session on an exercise bike and 52 using a gripping device designed to measure hand strength. Individuals were encouraged to use whichever swear words they felt comfortable with. Those taking part were all of a similar age, averaging at 21 years old.

For comparison, the researchers then asked a third group to complete the same tasks but only using 'neutral' language. It was concluded that the swearing groups performed better in both bike and handgrip tests, with an increase of 24 watts and 2.1 kilograms respectively. Dr Richard Stephens, from the University of Keele, who led the study, said:

"We know from our earlier research that swearing makes people more able to tolerate pain. A possible reason for this is that it stimulates the body's sympathetic nervous system - that's the system that makes your heart pound when you are in danger. If that is the reason, we would expect swearing to make people stronger too, and that is just what we found in these experiments."

He added:

"Quite why it is that swearing has these effects on strength and pain tolerance remains to be discovered. We have yet to understand the power of swearing fully."

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By A. Moiz