Swearing helps with pain relief and the best words to use have been ranked

Swearing is loathed by some and loved by others but there’s no doubt it comes in handy when a toe gets stubbed.

A survey found 64% of people repeatedly swear to help with pain relief and neuroscientists say it actually helps.

The most popular swear after stubbing a toe is fuck, with 52% of those polled saying it’s the most effective pain reliever.

This was followed by shit (50%), bloody hell (25%) and damn (23%).

The average Brit swears nine times a day with men swearing on average 10 times and women eight.

In the survey, 69% of people agreed swearing is a powerful thing to do.

Neuropsychologist Dr Rachel Taylor said: ‘The science shows that when people swear, it can activate the amygdala which in turn triggers a fight-or-flight response. This then leads to a surge in adrenaline, a natural form of pain relief.

‘Interestingly, research also suggests that conventional swear words are better at pain relief than novel ones, and also indicates that if you reserve swearing just for pain relief they are more analgesic than if you are a prolific swearer – you can become immune to the pain relief of swearing if you swear a lot.’

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This is bad news for the people of Norwich which has been dubbed the ‘swearing capital of the UK.’

In the survey, 20% of residents in the Norfolk city said they ‘swear like a trooper’, compared to 17% across the UK.

It also revealed attitudes towards certain swear words have changed and words considered outrageous in the past are now deemed acceptable.

For example, 51% believe they swear more than their parents, with only 26% saying they swear less – and 23% believing they swear the same amount.

These days 41% of us don’t consider ‘Oh my god’ a swear word and 36% admitted using the word damn without a second thought.

A quarter (25%) of us admitted to using the word bugger in front of children, friends, family and at work.

The survey revealed 46% of respondents agreed words that are racist, sexist, homophobic or bigoted in any way should always be avoided.

Ellie Glason, managing director of insights agency Perspectus Global, which commissioned the survey of 2,000 Brits, said: ‘We wanted to explore how sweary we are as a nation, and it was fascinating to see that swearing as pain relief is so common, and also to find out what the most effective word to use is.

‘It’s interesting to see how some words and phrases that were seen as outrageously rude in the past are now commonplace – but that there are some anglo saxon words that are as powerful now as they were 1,000 years ago.’

Other interesting findings included 35% who believe swearing is not offensive because it is on TV, the media and on social media.

More than half of us (51%) said swearing is acceptable in the workplace, as long as it wasn’t said in anger.

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