Karolina Grabowska/Pexe;

Here in the UK, a recent survey commissioned by insights agency Prospectus Global found that swearing can be a great tool for pain relief.

Over 2,000 people were polled on their swearing habits and — in a view that’s backed up by neuroscience — 64% of respondents who repeatedly swore, swore it was an effective antidote to their pains, both physical and emotional.

“The science shows that when people swear, it can activate the amygdala which in turn triggers the flight-or-fight response. This then leads to a surge in adrenaline, a natural form of pain relief,” said neuroscientist Dr. Rachel Taylor.

In a simple but often repeated experiment, people who swore when heavy things (irons, bricks, anvils, etc) were dropped on their feet experienced less pain and less stress and experienced it for a shorter duration of time than those who did not.

Research undertaken at Keele University, where they delve deep into the positive effects of swearing, has found that people who swear can hold their naked arms in buckets of ice-cold water for far longer than those who don’t, and people who are powering dynamos via riding a bicycle can pedal faster and for longer and so power those dynamos for far longer when swearing their heads off.

In fact, according to a study conducted by Keele, Ulster and Westminster universities, in conjunctions with Södertörn in Sweden, the results of which were released last year, when swear words are used in solidarity or to express joy, they can be a powerful tool in not only lowering pain, but also making people laugh and, even, dealing with road rage.

The study, published in the journal Lingua, was itself a meta-analysis of more than 100 pieces of academic research into the power of swearing.¹

“Basically, we found that swearing does things that other language does not,” said lead author Dr. Karyn Stapleton from the University of Ulster.

Scientists say that, far from being seen as vulgar or as a sign of low intelligence, swear words can produce a state of emotional arousal far more effectively than any of the other words we use.

Elsewhere, other studies have confirmed what many of us have suspected for a long time. People who swear as part of an overall rich and varied vocabulary tend to be more intelligent than those who do not. They are also more trustworthy and honest too.

I’ve been a keen advocate of the therapeutic use of swearing since the beginning of my practice and I’ve been in practice for nearly 20 years now. I use it myself, in a variety of contexts, and it’s not for nothing that my book contains a swear word in its very title.

Swearing, when used appropriately, may help you deal with anxiety and depression and, even, anger-management issues more effectively and is great at getting to grips with the temptation say, to drink, take drugs, or give in to unhealthy food cravings. But you need to use it in the right place, and it only works with people who are already comfortable with swearing.

Plus, you must be mindful of who you are swearing around, as there are those who consider it vulgar and offensive.

Ellie Glason, managing director of the agency that commissioned the survey, said, “We wanted to explore how sweary we are as a nation, and it was fascinating to see that swearing as pain relief is so common.”

When it came to swearing, one word was a clear winner. It rhymes with suck and was first recorded in a dictionary back in 1598. However, it goes back further than that and is derived, in part, from the Latin future and, also, the Old German ficken/f*cken which means ‘to strike or penetrate’ and is, itself, a slang term for copulation.

So, the next time you are anxious, or angry, or you stub your toe on the leg of a coffee table or the corner of a door, you know what to say, don’t you?