A recent study conducted by researchers from Keele University in the UK and Long Island University Brooklyn suggests that swearing during physically extraneous tasks can boost your performance and may even help to manage pain.
The secret to the surprising findings is all about distraction.
“What we realize is that, when people swear, they’re disinhibited from what it is they’re doing,” said Dr. David Spierer, the study's co-author and former Long Island University professor of health science. “In other words, if there is pain, if there is discomfort, you’re almost distracted and no longer focused on that. Whereas, if you’re not swearing, you’re really focused on what it is that you’re doing and what you’re performing.”
During one test, Spierer and his colleagues studied 81 people peddling on stationary exercise bikes. The participants were asked to cycle for 30 seconds and squeeze a handgrip as they spoke, with some subjects cursing and others saying non-curse words.
The test showed that participants that were swearing showed an increase of about 4.5% of initial peddling power compared to those that didn’t swear.
A different test showed that test subjects who cursed while squeezing the handgrip increased their maximum strength 8% over those that did not curse.
Spierer also has his own personal experience with the physical benefits of cursing.
“During very strenuous hikes, I would curse,” said Spierer. “I would get through the hike a lot easier because I was cursing, specifically because I wasn’t focusing on the pain and discomfort I was experiencing, but on the taboo."
It is not clear why cursing can boost physical performance or heighten pain thresholds in humans, but one hypothesis posed by the research team behind the study is that cursing taps into a person’s “fight or flight” instincts.