No f****** way!

I f*&$#@ love to curse, only I use the real words and not cute symbols like @#$%.  This little habit had to be reeled in with the arrival of my children, because no one wants to be told by the nursery school teacher that their kid dropped the f-bomb at snack time.  Also, profanity in general makes you sound uncivilized, is frowned upon in polite society, and can be overdone, so oftentimes I will censor myself willingly.

But not when I’m lifting heavy weights.  Then I fucking go for it.  Know why?  Because a 2009 study from the U.K.’s Keele University found (what I always intrinsically knew) that cursing has a pain lessening effect (hypoalgesic) on many people.  In the study, subjects were told to immerse their hands into very cold water.  Those who were told to curse had increased heart rates and were able to keep their hands in longer than those using a neutral word.  (Source:  Swearing as a Response to Pain.)

A 2011 study by the same group published in the Journal of Pain noted that this whole ‘cursing helps you push past pain’ thing is lessened if you swear on a daily basis, versus when you cuss only in response to pain.  (Source: Swearing as a Response to Pain – Effect of Daily Swearing Frequency.)

So, I guess the moral of the story is to curse with a purpose.  (I love science when it encourages me to do what I want to do anyway.)

How about you?  Do you curse when you lift heavy weights?

Lisa

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