Bugger, that stubbed toe is feeling better already

Swearing elicits an emotional response leading to what is termed 'stress-induced analgesia'. Photo / Thinkstock

Swearing can act as a form of pain relief, a study by Keele University in Britain confirms.

But those who have become habituated to cursing (think Gordon Ramsay) are less likely to feel the benefits.

Richard Stephens, of Keele's School of Psychology, said there was no "recommended daily swearing allowance", and it remains unclear whether certain swearwords are more effective analgesics than others.

His findings, in America's The Journal of Pain, were that those who swear just a few times a day doubled the time they could withstand the "ice-water challenge" - how long they could hold their hands in a container full of ice-water.

Those who admitted to the highest level of everyday cursing - up to a chain-swearing maximum of 60 expletives a day - did not show any benefit when undertaking a similar challenge.

The mechanism, the scientists say, is simple: swearing elicits an emotional response leading to what is termed "stress-induced analgesia", also known as the "fight or flight" response, along with a surge of adrenalin.

Frequent swearers can utter profanities without feeling an emotional response, and thus do not get the same pain-relieving effects.

So, it seems, swearing lightly in your daily routine can help in the occasional stressful situation.

"It would be silly to advocate swearing on the National Health Service," Dr Stephens said, "but swearing seems to activate parts of the brain that are more associated with emotions.

"In the context of pain, swearing appears to serve as a simple form of emotional self-management.

"Whether swearing has beneficial effects in other contexts is something we would like to explore further."

- INDEPENDENT