There are so many studies that support the benefits and the power there is in smiling, that it is so strange people are smiling less and less nowadays. Did you know that smiling can add years to your life? Yes, you read that right! Let's see some of the benefits and the science behind it.
Smiling extends your life span:
In a 2010 Wayne State University research project that looked into pre-1950s baseball cards of Major League players, the researchers found that the span of a player's smile could actually predict the span of his life. Players who didn't smile in their pictures lived an average of only 72.9 years, where players with big smiles lived an average of almost 80 years. That is 7 years more. Your lifespan is extended by 7 years when you smile often!
And did you know we are actually born smiling? Using 3D ultrasound technology, we now see that developing babies appear to smile, even in the womb. When they're born, babies continue to smile and even blind babies smile to the sound of the human voice. Smiling is one of the most basic, biologically uniform expressions of all humans!
Have you ever wondered why being around children, who smile so frequently, also makes you want to smile? A study at Uppsala University in Sweden found that it's very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles. Why? Because smiling is evolutionarily contagious. It's just like yawning. Mimicking a smile and experiencing it physically helps us understand whether our smile is fake or real, so we can understand the emotional state of the smiler. Children smile as many as 400 times per day whereas an adult can smile between 5 to a little over 20 times a day, which makes us wonder: what happens in our lives that we stop smiling, right? That’s why children are so happy, and happy children are healthier.
Smiling Elevates Our Mood. It can trick the body into helping you elevate your mood because the physical act of smiling actually activates neural messaging in your brain.
Smiling Boosts Your Immune System. Smiling can also boost your overall health. The act of smiling actually helps the human immune system to function more effectively. It is thought that when you smile, immune function improves because you are more relaxed (thanks to the release of certain neurotransmitters).
In addition to theorizing on evolution in "The Origin of Species," Charles Darwin also wrote the facial feedback response theory. It states that the act of smiling itself actually makes us feel better, rather than smiling being merely a result of feeling good. In a related German study, researchers used MRI imaging to measure brain activity before and after injecting Botox to suppress smiling muscles. The finding supported Darwin's theory, by showing that facial feedback modifies the neural processing of emotional content in the brain, in a way that helps us feel better when we smile. Smiling stimulates our brain reward mechanism in a way that even chocolate - a well-known pleasure inducer - cannot match. British researchers found that one smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate, or that smiling is as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 pounds sterling in cash.
But unlike lots of chocolate, lots of smiling can actually make you healthier. Smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine, increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphins, and reduce overall blood pressure.
Smiling makes you look more attractive and competent
If what you’ve read so far, hasn’t gotten you smiling yet, know that smiling can actually make you look good in the eyes of others. A study at Penn State University found that when you smile, you not only appear to be more likable and attractive, but you actually appear to be more competent. We are naturally drawn to people who smile - There is a real physical attraction factor linked to the act of smiling! And if that isn’t enough, studies have shown that people who smile regularly appear more confident, are more likely to be promoted, and are more likely to be approached, therefore making you more successful.
Smiling makes you more productive and creative
Yes, smiling can help you professionally too, it can boost your productivity and help you be more creative - A 2013 study from the University of California, San Francisco explored this connection in men and found that those who were happier had a more comprehensive approach to problems, improving their ability to think of more solutions than their negative-minded peers. The researchers connected this finding to the release of dopamine triggered by happiness, since the neurotransmitter is involved in learning, processing and decision-making.
Smiling also improves relationships, not only because you’re more likable but also because you’re more positive. Have you ever tried fighting while smiling? Or being negative without losing your smile? It’s quite impossible. You will either lose the will to fight or lose the smile, both cannot happen at the same time. Even when a smile feels unnatural or a little forced, it still sends the brain, and ultimately the rest of our body, the message that "Life is Good!" Stay away from stress and worry by smiling. And stress is something that really shows in our faces but smiling not only helps to prevent us from looking tired, worn down, and overwhelmed but can actually help reduce stress.
Smiling is a stress reliever and makes us feel good. Studies have shown that smiling releases endorphins, natural painkillers, and serotonin, and these three neurotransmitters make our entire body feel good.
So whenever you want to look great and competent, reduce your stress or improve your marriage, or feel as if you just had a whole stack of high-quality chocolate without incurring the caloric cost, remember you have a superpower, that will help you and everyone around you live a longer, healthier, happier life - Your smile!
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