The Power of Profanity

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 05:16:26 +0000

Have you ever wondered why swearing seems to be your immediate reaction to pain? In June 2009, researchers at the Keele University in England sought to determine why the automatic response for so many people in pain is to blurt out swears. The question at hand was, does simply expressing pain (in a shout, yelp, or cry) make you feel better, or, is it the specific words you choose to yell that helps to lessen pain? Do curse words contain a hidden power that has the ability to help decrease pain?

New Research on the Placebo Effect

admin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:52:17 +0000

You have probably heard about the Placebo effect. We know new drugs are measured against the placebo effect because a good percentage of people get better just by taking sugar pills.

I think a lot of us don’t take the time to consider how crazy this is. Some pretty major health conditions are “cured” by basically the belief that the pill or injection will work.

This is obviously power of the mind stuff, but until recently scientists had never been able to actually “see” the placebo effect actually working in the brain.

Thanks to Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (f MRI) and PET scans, researchers can now see the brain work in real time.

Exploring The Mind! » How the Brain Works

The Power of Profanity

New Research on the Placebo Effect