For @&#*'s sake, get a damn grip

Swearing really does help people to get a grip, a new study suggests.

Muscle strength and stamina can be boosted by turning the air blue, and researchers suggest cursing could help a cyclist summon up the extra pedal power to climb a hill, or a tennis player hit the ball a little harder.

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 swearing rudely led to significant improvements in performance compared to when using "neutral" words.

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

Richard Stephens from the University of Keele in Staffordshire, UK, 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."