Swear Words Actually Reduce Pain In Your Body

SCIENCE! Turns out when you stub your toe and some vile word exits your mouth, there's a reason for it. It's also processed in a different part of your brain than other, 'regular' speech. Get your learn on about how swear words actually reduce pain in your body and more!

From Health Guidance:

Your brain has both motor andpremotor areas, both of which have some control over speech and writing. A part of the brain called Wernicke's area handles the recognition of and processing of spoken words. The prefrontal cortex handles things like personality and determining what is appropriate social behavior. In most people, the left hemisphere of their brains is in charge of language, while the right hemisphere is in charge of the emotional content of language. Processing language is known as one of the "higher" brain functions, while processing emotion is considered one of the "lower" or more primal and instinctual brain functions.

 

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of the brain have revealed that swearing tends to affect the "lower" regions. Strong language gets "tagged" emotionally as we grow up, because our parents or teachers or peers react more strongly to certain words than others. If they react negatively to these words, that emotion gets stored in our brains along with any meanings of the words. So instead of processing "swear words" as a series of sounds or phonemes (as we do other words), the brain stores these "emotionally charged" words as whole units. As a result, the brain does not need the left hemisphere's help when processing them. Instead it relies on the limbic system (which controls memory, emotion, and behavior), and the basal ganglia (which controls motor functions and impulse control) to process the "swear words."

 

In a very real sense, therefore, swearing is a motor activity with a strong emotional content. This is one reason that most people remember swear words four times better than they do other words. fMRI studies have shown that the brain tends to "struggle" with itself when a person swears, these two areas competing for which will "win" in the moment.

 

So, next time you smack your funny bone on the door handle, just let it out!