Remember the event where you crashed into a wall or you accidentally snapped your toe? What was your first reaction after getting hurt? We bet it was “ouch!” or “ow!” and there’s a very good reason for you to say it, too.
Researchers from National University of Singapore designed a very interesting hypothesis to determine how vocalizing your pain helps in reducing the painful sensation that you feel after getting hurt.
The research included a set of people who were made to put their hand in extremely cold water for four times. The participants were asked to say “ow”, listen to a recording saying “ow”, press a button and to remain silent. While going through the results, the researchers found out that people who pushed the button or said “ow” were able to withstand the pain for 30 seconds as compared to the other who tolerated the pain for only 23 seconds.
Dr. Daniel Carr, director of the Pain Research, Education and Policy program at Tufts University School of Medicine, interpreted this research activity as an indication of how vocalization of pain causes interference with the pain signal that is travelling towards the brain hence, causing relief to the victim.
The research is actually pretty intriguing however, scientists still need more data to reach to a concrete conclusion for this theory.
Reference: Huff Post