Swearing is Caring

Nothing is quite as satisfying as letting a good, loud curse fly after stubbing your toe or banging your shin.  It feels great to growl an obscenity when your computer decides it needs to take a break and randomly shuts down all programs…including the unsaved word document of your midterm paper.  Swearing, in short, is an easy and effective way to express pain, discontent, frustration and any number of negative feelings while, apparently, also making you feel a little better.

It turns out this is due to a physical reaction in your brain.  Who knew?

When we swear after moments of stress, it activates a part of our brain associated with the fight or flight response system, raising our heart rate and making us less sensitive to pain. In short, it’s good for us.

All I can say is f**k yeah!  Seriously, I always knew there was some power to those mother-f**king words.  I find a well-placed, three minute string of expletives is extremely cathartic during any exam week.  It works better than sleep or alcohol to calm you down on a sh*tty day! Read More »