Warning: The following story contains adult language.
The above sentence, at the top of an online meme I’d downloaded from WebMD, stopped me in my tracks. The theme of the story was the science of swearing and included the story of a physical therapist here in the U.S. who read about a published study led by Richard Stephens, a psychologist at Keele University in Staffordshire, England.
The physical therapist, Nick Washmuth, DPT, associate professor in physical therapy at Samford University, was training for an annual bench press competition among his academic colleagues and the study intrigued him enough to test it out for himself.“I incorporated swearing into my routine,” he said. He added that he swore out loud for 15 seconds before benching weights. “And it helped,” he added. Of course, his next step was to contact Stephens in Staffordshire and the two decided to collaborate on a series of studies that investigated “when, how, and if someone can swear for reliable positive effects.”
Two years into the study, they published a 2023 case study on physical therapists who swear, as well as how patients can use “strategic swearing” in physical pain recovery.
The findings? Profanity and performance may be a match made in heaven.
The two men released the following finding from a laboratory test in which participants shouted Fuck every few seconds while they exercised: Swearing for a full 10 seconds before doing a grip strength exercise can increase grip strength by 8 percent; swearing every five seconds can increase pushup and plank time by 15 and 12 percent respectively; and swearing every three seconds can increase anaerobic (muscular) strength by 4.5 percent.
Turns out swearing also helps reduce pain further studies revealed. Fucking A, who knew? I have a lot of back pain. I’m sure I can train myself to yell swear words while I’m on the floor doing my exercises.
I know you, like me, are wondering where Stephens even got the idea to explore the relationship between cursing and physical health. Well. it turns out that his wife gave him the idea when she was giving birth to one of their children.
“She was embarrassed by how much she was swearing,” he remembered. “And the midwife tried to reassure her, telling her it was a completely normal part of giving birth. That got me wondering if that was true. If women have always been swearing to alleviate some of the pain of childbirth, there must be some connection.”
What is the moral of this story, you might be wondering at this point?
I’m not sure there is one, but I recall that my mother could swear like a truck driver when something got her cranked up. She would belt out a string of profanities like no one was watching. I even saw her do it in the Bon Marche once when the clerk said her Bon credit card was at its limit when she knew full well it had been paid it off. While she was railing against the injustice of it all, she picked up the clerk’s scissors and cut the credit card in little pieces. She left them sitting on the counter and stomped out the door with me in tow. Not exactly the kind of modeling we would wish for our children, and yet, there’s only one of my six siblings that swear like she did – it’s my sister who was always the quietest and most reserved of us all. Let me just say she was the quiet one. It seems that the older she gets the more she swears.
Today, at age 60, she can throw 11 F-bombs in one long paragraph when she’s telling a story. And she tells a lot of stories about her students who are developmentally disabled and whose ages range from 17-21. She takes said students out into the community with the goal of teaching them adult living skills. I will not be the one to tell any of those stories here but use your imagination. Her students are very spontaneous and don’t mind sharing with others anything and everything that they may experience, especially while riding the city bus. My sister and her colleagues say a lot of things like “Well, that’s unexpected …. And “No, we don’t do that in public.” Everyone in the family has now barred her from speaking about what’s unexpected. I know that some of her swearing is very helpful to her and her job.
I plan to test the swearing theory out at the gym. I hate exercising and I’ll do anything to increase my performance when I’m working out. If nothing else, I’ll get kicked out of the YMCA and never have to return.
If you’d like to subscribe to WebMD’s newsletter you can also sign up online. This month’s news included actual topics like “10 Reasons You’re so Gassy,” and “Poop Better, Feel Better” and “How to Put the Fun Back in Erectile Dysfunction.” No, I just made up that last one. Just checking to see if you’re reading to the end.
Let me know if you’re also testing out the swearing theory. I’d love to hear your replies.
Well, Fucking A...what a concept. I fucking love this post!
The hard consonants in swear words (eg. F*CK) are so effective. Feels great! Apparently wearing can reduce pain, too.