There is hope for me yet. One vice of mine is now considered healthy.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-talk-swearingjul13,0,3030857.story
Swearing can help ease pain, study finds
The next time you hammer your thumb, do what comes naturally: Swear. It won't sound pretty, but colorful expletives may help ease the pain, according to a study in the current issue of NeuroReport, a journal of neuroscience research.
In even the most civilized cultures, people curse out of habit, to let off steam or to shock. Swearing is also a common response to physical pain. But can off-color language actually affect how much an injury hurts?
To find out, researchers at Britain's Keele University asked 64 undergraduates to plunge a hand into a bucket of ice water for as long as possible while invoking either their favorite swear word or a "neutral" term.
Although the researchers suspected that using profanity would increase a person's perception of pain, they found the opposite was true: When people swore, they were able to keep their hands submerged longer than when they didn't, showing increased pain tolerance, researchers said.
One possible explanation is that swearing triggers our natural "flight-or-flight" response, said lead researcher Richard Stephens, a psychology lecturer at Keele University. When they swore, volunteers showed accelerated heart rates, which could indicate an increase in aggression and thus a decreased perception of pain. But swearing definitely sparked an emotional and physical response.
Careful who you swear in front of, though.
-- Julie Deardorff
Maybe I should try it instead of the anti-inflammatories (Naprosyn) which I take 2 tablets twice a day and an occasional 1/2 of a Darvocet N-100 when I just can't take the pain anymore and there isn't anyone around to yell at or punch.
Now I have to find a study for the rest of my vices.
