"Smile and the world smiles with you; cry and you cry alone" goes the classic song by Norman Vincent Peale. While his hackneyed concept may sound simplistic, recent research confirms his claim that positive emotions help people see the bigger picture and make better decisions.
Researchers found it easier to differentiate Duchenne smiles from fake ones when participants forced a smile with a pencil clenched between teeth forcing a smile.
The Science of Smiles: Biology and Benefits
Smiling isn't just for pictures or to make others feel good - it is a powerful, health-promoting behavior that not only boosts our immune systems but also relieves stress, improves our mood and sense of well-being and even makes those around us happier. Cliches like "smile and the world smiles with you" or "grin and bear it" come from scientific studies which prove that smiles activate brain regions known for happiness-inducing circuitry.
Real smiles - those from the heart - involve multiple facial muscles, including those in the mouth and around the eyes. In contrast, fake smiles usually only use mouth muscles and don't generate genuine happiness as efficiently.
Studies have demonstrated that people who smile during stressful events experience less intense physiological reactions, including lower heart rates. But the type of smile we use matters: affiliation smiles (those that convey compassion, trustworthiness, empathy and a desire for connection) have beneficial impacts on physical and mental wellbeing; dominance smiles (those that convey superiority or contempt) actually increase cortisol levels which have the opposite effect and lead to weight gain or depression.
Smiles: Impact on Mind and Body
Smiling can spread, and people often mirror each other's emotions through emotional contagion - an effect caused by mirror neurons in our brains.
Smiling can help lower stress hormone levels, particularly cortisol. High cortisol levels have been linked to memory issues, depression, anxiety, weight gain and heart disease - yet smiling can lower cortisol levels in your body, thus boosting productivity and helping foster creativity.
Smile even if you're feeling down; just the act of moving facial muscles into a smile triggers the release of feel-good messenger chemicals that will bring instantaneous benefits. Smiling also provides another important benefit - building connections with others during difficult times; smiling at strangers will help make new friendships while strengthening existing ones, plus can make you more approachable and improve workplace communication, leading to improved productivity and performance.
Happiness and Health: Mind-Body Link
Smiles don't only brighten our spirits - they also alter the dynamics between people around us. People who smile more are seen as more likable and trustworthy, which can help them achieve personal and professional goals more easily. Even one simple smile could prompt someone else to reciprocate by giving back the happiness - making both of you feel great!
Singers have long sung that smiling can bring happiness. Now science backs this old saying up by showing that simply moving your facial muscles into an attempt at smiling can have a beneficial effect on mood.
One study that examined yearbook photos of Major League Baseball players from 1952 found that smile intensity correlated to longevity; those who displayed larger smiles in their photographs lived an average of seven years longer than those who didn't smile as widely in their photo. Smiling may serve more than one purpose than just conveying happiness; it can also promote altruism.
Smiling Brain: Emotions Explored
Smiling is a sure sign of happiness and helps release neuropeptides which work towards relieving stress. These positive-feeling neurotransmitters trigger relaxation in both heart rate and blood pressure levels, making you feel good.
Smiling can actually trigger your brain into feeling happier regardless of whether or not you actually feel like smiling in that moment, due to social contagion; when one person's face and body language trigger the same response in another.
Smiles tend to appear when people share positive news or events with one another. When participants were told they will receive a small fee if they shared their results with someone, such as a friend, they displayed more Duchenne smiles than when the same task was completed without this sharing requirement (Fogel et al. 2006).
Research also supports the idea that genuine smiles offer insight into a person's core disposition. At UC Berkeley psychologists LeeAnne Harker and Dacher Keltner utilized facial coding software to analyze college yearbook photos of women wearing genuine, authentic smiles at 21. They then matched those ratings with personality data from a 30-year longitudinal study and found those women who displayed such authentic expressions later experienced higher levels of general well-being and marital satisfaction by 52 years of age.
Happiness: Success and Well-being
Studies have demonstrated that smiles may no longer provide as powerful of a happiness boost as once thought. A recent research study demonstrated this fact when it found people who frequently smile often feel less satisfied than those who only occasionally smile, due to the "fake it" effect not lasting as long.
Researchers discovered that those who smile frequently tend to be optimists, leading them to be both happier and healthier overall. Studies have linked positivity with lower rates of depression, heart disease and other medical issues - it also contributes to extended life span, as evidenced by studies such as "baseball card", which found those who smiled most in yearbook pictures lived seven years longer than non-smiling counterparts.
Debate continues over whether smiling really promotes happiness. One argument holds that people often feign smiles to appear more likable or friendly, which was proven in the 1970s by Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen's Facial Action Coding System (FACS). Their scientists discovered that smiling wasn't always caused by real happiness but could also signal other emotions such as frustration or stress.
Biology of Joy: Endorphins & Serotonin
Be it genuine or forced, smiling sends signals to our brain that things are positive, which triggers neuropeptides such as dopamine and serotonin to enhance neural communication and create feelings of well-being.
Smiling has also been shown to boost immune system functioning by increasing infection fighting antibodies and creating new cells to combat diseases such as arthritis. Smiling can make one more resistant to stress-related illness - known to be one of the main contributors to heart disease.
Smile and laughter have an immediate effect on lowering blood pressure. Smiling and laughter cause muscles to contract initially, increasing heart rate briefly before relaxing over time - potentially decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and increasing happiness!
Smiling and laughing are great ways to relieve stress. Smiling releases endorphins that help decrease cortisol levels - an indicator of depression and anxiety - while frequent smiling has been found to create more approachable, reliable employees with increased levels of productivity at work.
Smile Therapy: Healing Positivity
Smiling is an effective way of conveying positivity. Smiling can help you find success both professionally and personally, creating happier lives in both arenas.
People who smile more frequently tend to be healthier and more productive, as well as better at handling stress. Furthermore, their smile makes them more approachable to others and allows them to connect more readily.
Smiling can actually help boost your immunity by increasing infection-fighting antibodies in your system, making it more effective than coughing or sneezing.
Studies have demonstrated the power of genuine smiles over forced ones in creating positive effects, with studies finding that raising both corners of your mouth creates such effects - this is known as a Duchenne smile; try doing it by placing something between your teeth like a pencil or chopstick to force yourself into one! With such a Duchenne smile it is difficult to frown, and reduces heart rate significantly due to your brain thinking you are happy; thus making people feel good whenever they see someone else smile!
Smiles & Relationships: Social Bonds
People who smile often find it easier to make friends, feel more trustworthy of others, and recover faster than those who remain pessimistic or negative. According to one study involving baseball players' photos, researchers discovered a clear correlation between how big their smiles appeared on cards and the length of life; those who displayed greater smiles averaged seven years longer lifespan than non-smiling players.
Facial expression expert Paul Ekman refers to this as a Duchenne smile; its activation engages the orbicularis oculi muscle around the eyes, narrowing and crinkling them as part of its movement. As a result, you can easily tell whether someone is smiling even when their lips are closed tight, such as when covered with makeup or holding an infant with their mouth closed by pacifiers.
Duchenne smiles can be taken as a telltale sign of group cohesion and cooperation, an idea put to the test in recent research that required participants to share some of their participation fee with a friend - this resulted in more Duchenne smiles being displayed by participants than when performing identical tasks without social cues present.
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