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Health

Why you should give a ‘damn’ about the health benefits of swearing

By
Marc Lallanilla
Published June 2, 2023
Updated June 2, 2023, 2:29 p.m. ET

If you’re not using obscenities on a regular basis, WTF?

Swearing is linked to a range of benefits, scientists say, and those who swear show signs of greater intelligence.

Obscenities are found in all cultures and languages and have likely been with us since the first caveman stubbed his toe.

And it probably was a man, some experts claim, as swearing has usually been associated with soldiers, sailors and other typically male activities.

But the scientists who study swearing — yes, they exist — note that “women now tend to swear as much, or even more often, than men,” according to a 2022 report in the Archives of Physiotherapy.

Researchers split obscenities into three categories: religion (“damn,” “hell”); bodily excretions (“piss”); and sex, including our countless slang words for genitalia.

Some scientists believe that in modern times, women swear as much — or possibly more — than men.
Some scientists believe that in modern times, women swear as much — or possibly more — than men. Getty Images

Despite being taboo — or perhaps because they’re taboo — these foul words are helpful in a range of scenarios.

“The advantages of swearing are many,” Timothy Jay, a renowned expert on profanity and professor emeritus of psychology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, told CNN.

“The benefits of swearing have just emerged in the last two decades as a result of a lot of research on brain and emotion, along with much better technology to study brain anatomy,” Dr. Jay added.

Take, for example, pain management: In a famous experiment published in the journal NeuroReport, volunteers stuck their hands in ice water and kept them there for as long as they could.

Half of the volunteers were allowed to repeat a swear word during the experiment, and the rest were only allowed to repeat a neutral word. Those in the swearing group were able to keep their hands in ice water longer than the non-swearers.

“The headline message is that swearing helps you cope with pain,” lead author and psychologist Richard Stephens told CNN.

But moderation is key: Two years later, Dr. Stephens tried the same experiment with people who either typically swore on a daily basis, or less often. Those who swore daily experienced less pain relief from swearing than those who were less foul-mouthed.

Expressing rage through profanities may help people avoid physical conflict and injury.
Expressing rage through profanities may help people avoid physical conflict and injury. Getty Images

Physical strength might also be augmented by using obscenities. In a 2018 experiment, Dr. Stephens discovered that hand grip strength and cycling power performance were greater among participants who repeated an obscenity.

Science also finds that people who swear are more trustworthy. This may be surprising since dirty words are often associated with an uneducated or suspicious character.

Over the course of three experiments — including one that analyzed social interactions on Facebook — researchers found that people who used profanities were overall more honest and less deceitful.

“[P]rofanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level and with higher integrity at the society level,” the study authors wrote in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Swearing may have evolved in part to help us avoid direct physical conflict, which carries a risk of injury.

“In other words, I can give somebody the finger or say f – – k you across the street,” Dr. Jay said. “I don’t have to get up into their face.”

“The purpose of swearing is to vent my emotion, and there’s an advantage in that it allows me to cope,” Dr. Jay added. “And then it communicates very readily to bystanders what my emotional state is. It has that advantage of emotional efficiency — it’s very quick and clear.”

When it comes to intelligence, research finds an association between that trait and the use of obscenities.

Volunteers were asked to come up with a list of as many words that begin with A, F or S in just 60 seconds. Then, they were asked to come up with as many A, F and S profanities as they could think of in 60 seconds, and then all the animal names that begin with those letters.

Those who came up with the longest lists of A, F and S words also had the longest lists of swear words.

That’s a sign of intellect “to the degree that language is correlated with intelligence,” said Dr. Jay. “People that are good at language are good at generating a swearing vocabulary.”

Other experts, however, urge caution before assuming that the research means smarter people swear more.

“They noticed a trend,” said psychologist Grace Tworek of the Cleveland Clinic. “The more curse words that you can generate, the more regular words you’re generating as well. So it’s likely that you have a larger vocabulary on both ends.”