Photo: flickr/Mark Lee
If you bite your tongue or stub your toe, your first instinct is probably to yell. But have you ever wondered why that is? According to this study, being vocal could actually help you tolerate the pain. Here, the authors tested how long subjects could keep their hands immersed in very cold water before they couldn't take it anymore. The researchers found that saying "ow" during the experiment increased the subjects' tolerance for pain, but hearing a recording of their own voice or someone else's voice saying "ow" did not. These results are consistent with a previous study that found that swearing is also an effective way to increase pain tolerance; both studies suggest that the vocalization helps distract you from the pain and could be related to an evolutionarily-preserved "flight-or-flight" response.
On the Importance of Being Vocal: Saying “Ow” Improves Pain Tolerance "Vocalizing is a ubiquitous ...
