The Surprising Health Benefits Of Swearing
I am a Scouser living in Glasgow which means you can assume three things about me: my family are aggressively working class, I have a soft spot for dockyards and I LOVE to swear.
I don’t even think about it, it’s just so enjoyable. Nothing quite punctuates a sentence like a healthy f-bomb and getting into a healthy gossip session absolutely requires being able to dish out the delicious c-word.
However, I do know that for some people, it can be offputting and make them uncomfortable. I’m careful in polite company and wouldn’t ever want to make somebody needlessly uncomfortable so I had planned to tame my spicy tongue a little until I heard that actually, swearing is good for your health.
How does swearing benefit your health?
Writing for The Conversation, Michelle Spear, a Professor of Anatomy, University of Bristol says: “Research shows that a well-placed expletive can dull pain, regulate the heart and help the body recover from stress. The occasional outburst, it seems, isn’t a moral failure – it’s a protective reflex wired into us.”
Ever screamed some expletitives after stubbing your toe? That probably helped your body out. Wild.
Spear continues: “Recent research shows that swearing can actually change how much pain people can handle. A 2024 review looked at studies on swearing’s pain-reducing effects and found consistent evidence that people who repeated taboo words could keep their hands in icy water significantly longer than those who repeated neutral words.
“Another 2024 report found that swearing can also increase physical strength during certain tasks, further supporting the idea that the body’s response is real rather than merely psychological.”
So, while for us it can feel emotional, it appears that swearing is much more
Have you ever had devastating news and screamed out loud, feeling that if you didn’t, it would just build up in your chest, begging for release? Spear explains that swearing is beneficial here, too.
“Swearing also helps the body recover from sudden stress. When shocked or hurt, the hypothalamus and pituitary release adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream, preparing the body to react.
“If this energy surge isn’t released, the nervous system can remain in a heightened state, linked to anxiety, sleep difficulties, weakened immunity and extra strain on the heart.”
Fuck it, let it all out.