New medical research from the University College of London suggests that crossing your arms over your midsection not only keeps strangers from talking to you at parties, it also confuses your brain, thus distracting it from pain.
Your brain is dumb.
Unfortunately, this trick won’t work if, say, you’ve been chasing a nemesis through the wide open desert only to run face first into the broad side of a cliff and you become flat as a pancake and sort of slide off as a “wah wah wah” sound plays in the background, or if you’re walking down the street and a dastardly rabbit drops an anvil on your head, turning you into an accordion shape, much to your chagrin. Researchers only tested the effects of the ol’ arm cross on pain in your hands.
Crossing Your Arms ‘Relieves Hand Pain’ [BBC]