New study finds that swearing can be good for your health

There’s some great f***ing news for people who like to swear a lot – it turns out that having a potty mouth could be good for you in certain situations.

A new study has found that swearing and making rude gestures could help people in reducing the feeling of pain.

The research was conducted using a study which, if we’re being honest, sounds pretty fun (at least to observe, not so much to take part in).

The study, which is published in Psychological Reports, involved 111 students at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. They were challenged to withstand the pain of a cold pressor task, which sees people hold their hand in ice water for as long as they can withstand the discomfort.

Then, they were asked to repeat the word “f***” or “flat” over and over again while their hand was submerged while making rude gestures like sticking up their middle finger with their other hand.

As the results showed, people were able to withstand the pain longer if they repeatedly swore.

Writing in the paper, the authors said: “We found that engaging in a taboo act […] enabled participants to withstand the pain in a cold pressor task for significantly longer than engaging in a neutral act.”

The work referenced older studies that linked swearing with pain relief, while the effect of rude gestures is another, new, area of research.

The authors of the study also conceded that the swearing during the test had anything to do with the effect of aggression, with one writing: “We cannot rule out the possibility that aggression might be involved; perhaps our word stem completion and heart rate measures were not sensitive enough to detect changes in aggression.”

So, the next time you hurt yourself around the house, don’t be afraid to let it all out and swear your head off – it’ll probably help.

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