Swearing boosts physical performance by 11 percent, research shows

You know that moment right before you lift something heavy, or push through the last rep, when you feel yourself holding back? A psychologist at Keele University thinks he's figured out why — and how a single swearword might change it.

Dr. Richard Stephens led a study of 192 people doing chair pushups while repeating either a curse word of their choice or a neutral word every two seconds. The results were straightforward: those who swore managed to hold the position 11% longer than those who didn't.

But here's what's interesting: it wasn't what researchers expected. Earlier studies had suggested swearing triggered a "fight or flight" response — a surge of adrenaline that would show up as an increased heart rate. This new research found no evidence of that. Instead, swearing seems to work differently. It creates what Stephens calls a state of "disinhibition" — basically, you throw off social constraint and allow yourself to push harder.

When participants answered questions about their mental state during the task, the pattern was clear. Swearing boosted self-confidence, improved psychological "flow" (that absorbed, focused state where you're fully engaged), and paradoxically, distracted them from the difficulty of the task itself. All of these are hallmarks of disinhibition — you're less worried about what you "should" do and more focused on what you're actually doing.

"In many situations, people hold themselves back — consciously or unconsciously — from using their full strength," Stephens explains. "Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident and less distracted, and go for it a little more."

What makes this work, Stephens believes, is the taboo nature of swearwords themselves. They carry cultural weight precisely because we're not supposed to use them. That transgression — that small rule-breaking — seems to be the mechanism that loosens inhibition. His team is now testing whether stronger language produces even greater physical gains, and exploring whether the same confidence boost might help in other high-stakes moments: public speaking, difficult conversations, situations where hesitation might work against you.

There's a practical simplicity to this finding. Swearing is, as Stephens puts it, "a calorie-neutral, drug-free, low-cost, readily available tool at our disposal for when we need a boost in performance." He suspects people already do this instinctively — ducking into a quiet room for a minute of expletives before heading into a presentation.

That said, Stephens is clear-eyed about the limits. "You're never quite sure when you use a swearword how it's going to land," he cautions. "You have to know your audience and who is around. You could land yourself in hot water if you swear inappropriately." The disinhibition that helps you in the gym might backfire in a boardroom.

The findings appear in the American Psychologist journal, and the research team is already planning the next phase — exploring whether the confidence effect extends beyond physical performance into situations where psychological hesitation is the real barrier.