Swearing relieves pain

? Saying tacos is an emotional form of expression and an almost universal phenomenon in human language ?, says Richard Stephens, who in a study with 64 volunteers has found that by swearing we are able to resist for longer the pain generated by putting our hands in a container full of ice. Specifically, the subjects resisted pain for 40 seconds longer by hurling expletives than if they said non-offensive words, such as describing the appearance of a table. Furthermore, the intensity of the perceived pain was also reduced with the studs ( hypoalgesia ).

"It seems that there is a reason for the development of these words in all languages", concludes Stephens after the experiment, the details of which are published in the specialized journal NeuroReport .