Why Swearing Reduces Pain

Interesting Time article on why swearing reduces pain. Apparently it works less on men than women because men swear more. I'm guessing its the sudden spike of adrenaline that creates our fight or flight animal instinct.

Here's an excerpt:

"It may be that swearing serves as an alarm bell, triggering the body's fight-or-flight response, as Stephens postulates in the study. He and his colleagues found that when study participants used expletives, their heart rates were consistently higher than when they were repeating non-obscene control words — a physiological response that is consistent with fight or flight. But while it is typically fear that triggers the stress response, Stephens suggests the salient emotion in this case is not fear but aggression. "In swearing, people have an emotional response, and it's the emotional response that actually triggers the reduction of pain," says Stephens, whose next step is to research the relationship between induced aggression and reduction of pain. (In past studies, the opposite has been found: higher levels of pain tolerance predict heightened aggression.)

But before you go yelling four-letter words at every turn, consider this: in Stephens' study, swearing reduced the perception of pain more strongly in women than in men. That may be because in daily life "men swear more than women," says Pinker, which could have the unfortunate side effect of dulling the natural painkiller. "[For women] I suspect that swearing retains more of an emotional punch because it has not been overused," he says."

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1910691,00.html