Swearing can boost muscle strength and stamina

Swearing can help boost muscle strength and stamina, a new study has found.

Just like a dose of foul language might be what it takes to free a jammed bottle top, turning the air blue can also be good during exercise.

Psychologists conducted tests in which volunteers had to swear before intense sessions on an exercise bike, or squeezing a device that measures hand grip strength.

In both experiments turning the air blue led to significant improvements in performance compared with uttering "neutral" words.

The study followed up earlier work that showed swearing increases pain tolerance, helping explain the common reaction to hitting one's thumb with a hammer.

Dr Richard Stephens, from the University of Keele, who led both teams, said: "We know from our earlier research that swearing makes people more able to tolerate pain.

"A possible reason for this is that it stimulates the body's sympathetic nervous system - that's the system that makes your heart pound when you are in danger.

"If that is the reason, we would expect swearing to make people stronger too, and that is just what we found in these experiments."

Surprisingly, increases in heart rate and other expected changes linked to the "fight or flight" response were not seen in the latest tests.

Dr Stephens added: "Quite why it is that swearing has these effects on strength and pain tolerance remains to be discovered. We have yet to understand the power of swearing fully."

The findings were presented at the British Psychological Society's annual meeting.