Happiness IRL
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 963 Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If everyone wants happiness, why does it so often seem hard to achieve? This episode, host Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by psychologist Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky to talk about positive psychology and what science tells us about how to be happy. Sam also explores a new study that says swearing can give you a physical boost and, to celebrate the Olympics, she digs into the physics behind curling.
Link to Show Notes HERE
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Curiosity Weekly. I'm Dr. Samantha Amin, and I have some fascinating science to explore with you. |
| 0:07.5 | We're going to start with the intriguing idea that swearing may actually boost your physical performance. |
| 0:13.4 | Scientists actually studied it. Then we'll hear from Dr. Sonia Liebermirsky on the science behind happiness and how we can cultivate it in our own lives. |
| 0:21.8 | Last, we'll discuss how those curling stones actually, well, curl. So settle in and let's get |
| 0:28.1 | started. Swearing isn't just for when you stub your toe or lose a bet. It may actually give you a |
| 0:35.3 | physical boost. Research from Keel University in the UK and University |
| 0:39.3 | of Alabama in Huntsville reveals how cursing can enhance physical performance. They think it puts you |
| 0:45.5 | in a mental state to perform better in tests of strength and endurance. Picture a captain pumping up |
| 0:51.0 | their team with a, shall we say, efficient speech. Well, now science backs it up. |
| 0:57.2 | In this study, researchers put about 300 participants to the test in two experiments. Both of them |
| 1:03.1 | involved performing chair push-ups. If you want to try it, sit on a sturdy chair, put your hands |
| 1:08.0 | under your bum, then straighten your arms so you're supporting your full |
| 1:11.2 | body weight. For the first experiment, participants repeated a swear word every couple of seconds |
| 1:15.9 | while they were doing that exercise. And then they did the same exercise, but now using a neutral |
| 1:21.0 | word. Some participants started with the swear word while others started with the neutral word, |
| 1:25.6 | so even if people were just fatigued during |
| 1:27.6 | the second round of push-ups, it wouldn't impact the study results. Now in the second version of the |
| 1:32.4 | experiment, they did the same thing, except they could start saying their swear or neutral word |
| 1:37.3 | 20 seconds before starting the chair push-ups. The results were telling. In both experiments, those |
| 1:43.7 | who swore could support their body weight |
| 1:45.5 | longer than when they were just saying the neutral words. The researchers hypothesized this may |
| 1:50.6 | tie back to the idea that swearing boosts our confidence and lowers our inhibitions, |
... |
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