心理學家稱偶爾爆粗口可以減輕疼痛

Swearing can relieve pain - but only if you don't curse regularly in everyday life, claim psychologists.

心理學家稱，說髒話可以減輕疼痛，然而太過頻繁則會過猶不及。

Previous studies have shown that letting fly with a few choice expletives can ease pain.

先前的研究表明，偶爾爆幾句粗口可以減輕疼痛。

But the bad news is that the pain relief quickly wears off for habitual swearers, according to Keele University researchers.

不過基爾大學的研究人員同時表示，對於那些滿嘴髒話的人來說，鎮痛效果並不明顯。

Dr Richard Stephens and Claudia Umland asked 71 volunteers aged 18 to 46 to assess how frequently they swore, ranging from hardly ever to 40 times a day or more.

理查德 史蒂芬斯博士和克勞迪婭 烏木蘭德博士進行了一項調查，他們召集了71名志願者，年齡從18歲到46歲不等，詢問他們平日說髒話的頻率，比如很少說髒話，或者一天罵40句甚至更多髒話。

They then had to keep their hands in icy water for as long as possible to test their pain tolerance.

接下來他們要求這些志願者將雙手置於冰水之中，時間越長越好，以檢測他們對疼痛的忍耐力。

Those who seldom swore were able to stand the icy water for 45 seconds longer when they were swearing than when they were not swearing. But those who often swore gained only ten extra seconds.

那些很少說髒話的人，當他們忍受不了而罵幾句髒話時，就能在冰水中多堅持45秒，甚至更久，而那些經常說髒話的人至多再堅持10秒。

The experiment showed the more often people swear in daily life, the less extra time they could stand the pain.

實驗結果顯示，一個人說髒話的頻率越高，他對疼痛的忍耐力就越差。

Dr Stephens said that swearing appeared to induce a 'fight or flight' response that acted as a stress-induced painkiller for those who did not swear regularly.

史蒂芬斯博士稱，對那些不常罵髒話的人來說，髒話能誘使身體發生“或戰或逃”反應，以減輕因壓力產生的疼痛感。

He said: 'Many people think swearing is only for those with a low IQ or a poor vocabulary but that's far from the case. People have a need to swear, it's a human emotion that can serve a purpose in life or death situations - if you don't do it too often.'

他說：“很多人認爲只有那些智商低、沒文化的人才會說髒話，但情況遠非如此。人人都有罵髒話的需求，在生死關頭，罵髒話能釋放人的情感——只要你不是經常這麼做。”