Air date: August 23, 2009

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It's natural to swear when you stub your toe or experience some other kind of sudden pain. A new study shows that cursing makes pain easier to bear.

So say you're doing some minor home repairs, maybe fixing a loose door frame, confidently hammering away ... When suddenly, the hammer slips, and you bang your thumb.

Now, unless you're blessed with the stoic demeanor of a Spartan warrior, when the hammer hits, you're likely to swear in pain.

It's a common reaction. But why? Why does stubbing a toe or banging an elbow seem to naturally result in a string of curse words?

According to a recent study, it may be because swearing helps pain feel, well, less painful.

Researchers timed how long a group of college students could keep their hands in icy water while either cursing or repeating some neutral word, like "table." And sure enough, those that swore kept their hands in longer.

So I tried it myself.

When I tried it with cursing, I was able to keep my hand in a few seconds longer. So maybe it takes a while before the effect kicks in.

But assuming that cursing really does help mitigate pain, how does it work?

Well, one possibility is that swearing taps into some of our most primitive emotions. Swear words seem to involve ancient brain structures, like the amygdala--an almond-shaped bunch of cells dpeep in the right brain that's central to the fight-or-flight response. When the amygdala kicks in, your heart rate jumps, adrenaline flows, and you're less sensitive to pain.

So when you bang your thumb, cursing is a natural, almost involuntary response to lessen the pain.

Additional Resources:

• Check out psychologist Steven Pinker's two-part lecture on swearing.
• An amusing and interesting article about pain and cursing, in the Scientific American.

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