Bitching is good for you! Here's why..

A very suitable song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyFe8Yac0W0

"Hey, you know _____, isn't he so annoying?"

We've all heard it before, people calling people fat, annoying, ugly boring, the list goes on. Ironically gossiping, or more commonly known as bitching (I'll refer to it as gossiping in this article) is actually healthy for you for several reasons.

• Alleviating stress - This is a funny one, perhaps reducing other people reputations up's your own and makes you feel better.
• Prevents bad behaviour - verbally discussing bad points about people makes you less likely to react physically when the moment comes. This is true if you think about it, if you gossip about someone being really annoying to your friend, when that person comes and annoys you, it's just a laugh and more light-hearted.
• Gossiping is therapeutic- It's been scientifically shown that when gossiping, heart rate increases, and after decreases again. Maybe a problem talked about really is a problem halved.

John Hardy, a neuroscientist from UCL reckons gossiping is hard-wired into the human race. We just can't help it! Which is quite true if you think about it, the urge to point out someone's flaws is very tempting. He think's that perhaps in prehistoric times it helped build up on social structures. After all that is still reflected today, having the same opinion as someone else constructs conversation and you become better friends; the equivalent of this in prehistoric times was finding a mate (yes, that kind of mate).

Gossiping is also a social currency. For example you can probably go to India and have a conversation about Angelina Jolie or Dave Grohl (that would be constructive gossiping, because he's awesome). Likewise you can have a personal rant about someone the other person doesn't even know, and chances are the conversation will flow. For example "Right, this girl I know back at home, she's such a ___" "Haha, really? Tell me more!"

What about you?

Gossiping ultimately benefits you. Hearing other people's flaws makes it clear to you what's good and what's bad, helping you climbing up the social ladder and being more likeable! Even if you're the subject of gossiping you do tend to improve on yourself if you think about it, and this is constructive for you. 

So next time you hear someone talking about you, don't get angry, improve on yourself! (and maybe gossip about them too)

[ If someone gossips about you and refer's to me being the motive, don't listen to them :) ]