Why swearing could actually be good for you

Using curse words could actually help you achieve your goals, according to a new study

Letting slip certain curse words may see you land in hot water at work or be sent off to wash your mouth out with soap by your parents.

But swearing could actually have real benefits, according to a new study published in the journal American Psychologist.

They found swearing can be a “calorie-neutral” way to boost people’s physical performance by helping them overcome their inhibitions and push themselves harder when taking part in demanding physical activities.

Scientists found people who swore while performing challenging physical tasks were able to push themselves further (Getty Images/iStock)

“In many situations, people hold themselves back – consciously or unconsciously – from using their full strength,” said study author Dr Richard Stephens. “Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident and less distracted, and ‘go for it’ a little more.”

Previous research from the team suggested that when people swear, they perform better on many physical challenges, including how long they can keep their hand in ice water and how long they can support their body weight during a chair push-up exercise.

But Dr Stephens wanted to understand why it was that people could perform better when swearing. He believed that cursing could put people in a disinhibited state of mind, which in turn may allow them to push themselves harder.

“We were working on the idea that one of the ways that swearing has these beneficial effects is because it makes us disinhibited in the moment and so we don’t hold back, and dig deeper into the resources we have at our disposal,” he told The Independent.

To test the theory, the researchers asked 192 people to repeat either a swear word of their choice or a neutral word every two seconds while doing a chair pushup. They were then questioned about their mental state during the task.

Researchers found that participants who swore during the chair pushup task were able to support their body weight “significantly longer” than those who repeated a neutral word.

Scientists said wearing is a ‘calorie-neutral’ way to improve performance (Getty/iStock)

They also measured several variables linked to disinhibition, and found increases in all of them.

“One was distraction, so we wanted to know how distracting participants found repeating a swear word,” Dr Stephens said. “Being emotional language swearing does capture our attention so we don’t have the bandwidth to process those more negative thoughts we might previously entertain. For that reason, we become disinhibited.”

The team also found an increase in what they called “psychological flow”, a state of mind Dr Stephens described as being “completely wrapped up in a task” and “not thinking about anything else”.

“It’s a pleasurable state to be in – we feel in control of what we are doing,” he said. “We think that is because of an amplification of our outgoing mindset, stopping thoughts which might otherwise be there, meaning we experience more flow after swearing.”

He found people also demonstrated increased self-confidence after swearing, allowing them to “forget all the bad stuff” and perform at their best.

“These findings help explain why swearing is so commonplace,” said Dr Stephens. “Swearing is literally a calorie-neutral, drug-free, low-cost, readily available tool at our disposal for when we need a boost in performance.”

Researchers found participants reported higher self-confidence after swearing (iStock)

The team now plan to research whether this boost from swearing works in other contexts, according to study co-author Nicholas Washmuth from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

“Our labs are now studying how swearing influences public speaking and romantic approach behaviours, two situations where people tend to hesitate or second-guess themselves," he said.

But Dr Stephens cautioned against using the findings to justify swearing at any occasion. “Attitudes are changing around swearing, but you’ve got to be careful,” he said.

“Because once swearing stops being swearing, it will presumably stop having its effects. So it’s a bit of a balance.”

It comes after a study found that those who swear more are more likely to be honest people. Researchers from the University of Cambridge, Maastricht University, Hong Kong University and Stanford studied 276 people in a lab, the social interactions of 73,789 people on Facebook and measured the average profanity scores against the integrity index for each US state.

They concluded “a consistent positive relationship between profanity and honesty; profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level and with higher integrity at the society level”.