New research has shown that uttering profanities can increase your physical performance by up to 8%. The research was led by Dr. Richard Stephens from the University of Keele.

The research involved conducting a series of experiments with people who repeated either a swear word or a neutral word as they exercised on a stationary bike, or else performed a hand-grip test.

When the paricipants swore during the stationary bike exercise, their peak power was found to have risen by 24 watts on average, according to the study. During the 10-second grip task, the individuals uttering swear words increased their strength by the equivalent of 2.1kg, the researchers found.

However, researchers found heart rates did not increase with swearing, suggesting that the act of swearing did not trigger participants’ fight-or-flight responses as they had expected.

Twenty nine people took part in the cycling test with an average age of 21, while 52 people took part in the hand-grip test with an average age of 19. The participants were asked to choose a swear word that they would typically shout out if they were to his their thumb with a hammer. For the neutral word, the volunteers were asked to pick a word they might use to describe a table, such as “wooden” or “brown”.

Dr. Stephens suggested that the results might indicate that swearing distracts athletes from pain, or that it could make them more disinhibited and prevent them from holding back.

The study is a follow-up to previous research which showed that swearing helps to increase pain tolerance.

The latest findings were presented at the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society in Brighton.

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85 COMMENTS

  44. I fully agree. Me calling you a fucking Wanker on a cutting bike and get off the fucking road before I beat your head in you slow non tax paying prick ! That will greatly improve your cycling in the sense of hopefully your get a fucking car !!!

  50. I cycled Perth to Newcastle in 2015 via Albany and I had the most manic episodes swearing every day —I returned to normal behaviour upon my return home and one day I was watching ABC breakfast news and a wordsmith was talking about a word ” lalochezia ” which means uncontrolled swearing to relieve stress–I had a light bulb moment and thought that explains it all !!

    • LALOCHEZIA définition from dictionary——lalochezia
      “Emotional relief gained by swearing”
      “…she employed lalochezia, in private, to help her celebrate some great achievement that she had worked long and hard for…”
      – Endangered Words

    • LALOCHEZIA définition from dictionary——lalochezia
      “Emotional relief gained by swearing”
      “…she employed lalochezia, in private, to help her celebrate some great achievement that she had worked long and hard for…”
      – Endangered Words

    • LALOCHEZIA définition from dictionary——lalochezia
      “Emotional relief gained by swearing”
      “…she employed lalochezia, in private, to help her celebrate some great achievement that she had worked long and hard for…”
      – Endangered Words

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