A news article in the Independent reported on a recent study:
Whether you’re cycling up a hill and need extra oomph or simply trying to open a tightly-closed jar, a good dose of foul language may be what it takes.
Dr Richard Stephens, from the University of Keele, 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. 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,” Dr Stephens added.