Swearing relieves pain, emotion

I knew dropping F bombs has a purpose not that I ever [expletive] do it.

An article in Scientific American cites a study to be released in August from the NeuroReport that suggests swearing might be a more purposeful than we [expletive] thought. A delightful one minute podcast podcast accompanies the the story.

The proof is in the pain and less of it. Dr. Richard Stephens at Keele University in England recruited 67 volunteers to put their hand in cold water.  Ones permitted to swear instead of reciting a neutral word felt less pain and could keep their hand submerged an average of 40 seconds longer.

Thanks to a group of neurons known as the amygdala in the right side of the brain, swearing raises the heart rate which lowers pain.

"[Swearing] allows us to vent or express anger, joy, surprise, happiness," profanity expert Prof. Timothy Jay of the Masschusetts College of Liberal Arts says in the story. "It's like the horn on your car, you can do a lot of things with that, it's built into you." So the next time you're in pain, the smart thing to do is swear like hell.

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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com