Do you know any interesting facts about smiling? Often an involuntary reaction, smiling can help reset your outlook. Nearly every day you and I encounter challenging situations that threaten to spoil our joy. Fight back that negativity. A simple smile can help turn your day around in short order. Check out these seven commonly known and pretty interesting facts about smiling. Perhaps they will make you, well – SMILE.
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1. Convey Emotion
One of the many well-known facts about smiling is that it conveys emotion. Smiling is largely associated with happiness, joy and romance. However, we smile for many different reasons, some of which include smiling as a coping mechanism for emotions such as anger, sadness or grief. Smiling can also convey lies or deception.
2. Pause Time
When you are truly happy and smile from within, your whole demeanor changes. It is amazing. Specifically, your facial muscles change from the top of your forehead to the edge of your chin - including the eyes - reacting in a way that cannot be faked. Your skin shifts, tightening your muscles, producing a youthful glow. Together, the change in facial structure and glowing effect can help you look younger.
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3. Chemical Reaction
Smiling releases chemicals from your brain called endorphins. These guys are responsible for making us feel happy. When we smile, our brains react to the shifting facial muscles. Real or fake, it is the action that causes the endorphin release not the intention. So, in this case, smiling for no reason at all works just as well as smiling as a result of real emotions. Thus the more we smile, the happier we feel.
4. Physical Health
Those same chemicals - endorphins - are also a form of natural painkillers. While smiling increases endorphin production it also reduces cortisol - a hormone that contributes to negative feelings, helping us to feel less stressed. Smiling also helps to boost our immune systems by relaxing the body allowing the immune system to react quicker. Do you remember the phrase: "laughter is the best medicine"? While smiling is not a cure-all it certainly helps.
5. Relieve Stress
Simply slowing your breathing and changing your facial expression can have an immediate positive affect on reducing your stress level. Aside from the endorphin and cortisol production/reduction mentioned earlier, the act of slowing down and forcing yourself to smile, even when you don’t feel up to it, can make you rethink and refocus your emotions. Forcing yourself to smile can help change your emotions to mimic the happiness your smile conveys.
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6. Quality of Life
If you are having a bad day, try to find something to smile about, something positive. Let nothing escape your gaze. Slow your stroll and notice the little things around using your five senses. Find something wonderful to smile about every day. Smiling increases the happiness and comfort of many around you and can have a positive effect on your environment.
7. Reflect Success
Smiling in photographs conveys confidence, competence and professionalism. Taken together, these traits make you look successful. Wearing a smile also conveys control, a sense of flexibility and ease. Perhaps, with the reduction of cortisol, your smile is conveying a real sense of ease.
A smile can convey so much, especially feelings of joy and good health. Whether done on purpose or spontaneously, smiling can be good for you. Do you know any interesting facts about smiling?
References: longevity.about.com; sunwarrior.com; livestrong.com; webmd.com
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