Unlike the pain you live with day in and day out, acute pain comes on quickly and doesn't last long.

But it can hurt like the dickens.

While it lasts, you'd swear it's unbearable.

And swearing may be what you need to do to relieve the pain, according to Richard Stephens, Ph.D., School of Psychology, Keele University, North Staffordshire, United Kingdom.

Stephens and his colleagues recently conducted an experiment to see whether swearing while you're suffering lessens the pain.

Volunteers immersed their hands in ice cold water while offering a few choice words. (As an aside, some volunteers were dismissed because their vocabulary was too tame.)

The connection between pain and swearing is linked a "fight or flight" response. Experiencing pain your body releases adrenaline, your heart rate goes up and you're ready to run or put up a fight, according to Stephens.

That increased heart rate from the adrenaline rush increases pain tolerance.