How to Smile for Better Health Edited by 80_Calo, Lojjik Braughler, Maluniu, Maniac and 12 others Smiling plays

a very important role in maintaining and improving your health, both physically and emotionally. As Phyllis Diller once said: A smile is a curve that sets everything straight, and the smile can help you to stand out, improve people's perception of your attractiveness and relieve any stress you might be experiencing. And if you're still not convinced, there is evidence that those who smile often live an average of 7 years longer than those who rarely conjure a regular smile.[1]

A fun way to improve your physical and mental well-being, the smile is free of charge and always available by choice and this article explores the ways you can smile to be healthy.

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1 Smile to relieve stress. Stress is easily shown in our faces. Smiling prevents people from looking too tired or overwhelmed. When you're stressed, try to put on a smile, as it will make you feel happy, and you will appear happy. Your feelings on stress will be reduced as the endorphins associated with the smile are released, [2] and the infectiousness of your smile will help to make others happy. When others are happy, you will feel even happier knowing you're helping others to feel better. You may even start laughing, and if so, others might join in. That shows you that from being sad, you can start laughing with the help of a smile.[3]

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2 Smile to help your immune system work better.[4] Smiling brings about a sense of relaxation, and it is relaxation that helps your immune system to work more efficiently.

You can reduce the risk of sicknesses such as the cold and the flu by smiling, in addition to getting a seasonal flu vaccine, exercising, eating right, and living a healthy lifestyle.

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3 Smile to stay positive. A simple test to show you how smiling keeps you positive is to smile. Then you need to try to think of something negative, but keep the smile, otherwise the test won't work. You will soon see that it is hard to combine the negative thought with the smile! When we smile, our body and mind are sending us a message that everything is okay, and that life is great. Smiling will help to lift depression and sadness, and with frequent use, works better than any type of medication to relieve you of stress. Dozens of studies show that if you are positive, you are more likely to live longer, a state of being that also helps to ward off sickness.[5]

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4 Smile to look younger. The muscles used to smile lift your face up, which makes people appear much younger. Don't go for an unnatural and dramatic smile, just try to smile throughout the day naturally.

Try the smize.

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5 Smile to live longer. Those who smile are thought to live an average of 79.9 years, while partial smilers live an average of 75 years, and non-smilers live an average of 72.9 years. The only conclusion to be reached from this is to smile every day. Even if it doesn't guarantee that you'll live longer, you'll feel a whole lot better for it throughout your life! Obviously as well as smiling, also pay attention to appropriate exercising, eating right, and living a healthy lifestyle. [6]

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6 Smile to relieve pain. When you're in pain, physically or mentally, smile. Smiling releases endorphins and serotonin endorphins are natural painkillers.[7] Together, these two chemicals make people feel more able to cope when they're in pain. When someone is sad, and their friend comes over and makes the person laugh to cheer the person up, the resulting smiling and laughter relieve pain.[8]

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7 Smile to help reduce your blood pressure. If you're a person suffering from high blood pressure (hypertension), then it's recommended that you smile a lot more. When you smile, you should see a marked reduction in your blood pressure:

If you have a blood pressure monitor, then you can prove this response. Sit for a little while, and read. Smile for a few minutes, and then read while still smiling. Then measure your blood pressure with your blood pressure monitor. You should notice that your blood pressure has gone down measurably.

Of course, smiling isn't the answer to hypertension. Be sure to be under your doctor's guidance, receiving all care and attention required to treat your disease.

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8 Smile to seem more successful. People who smile appear more confident, are more likely to be promoted, because they will put their boss into a happy mood, and are more likely to be approached by many people, as well as making more friends.[9] Smile at meetings, and you will see that people will react to you differently. Smile to help put people at their ease and you'll feel a lot more at ease too. Ultimately, the smile is an easy way to improve your mental well-being through increased confidence and better relationships with other people.

The science of smiling: A guide to humans most powerful gesture

Posted on Tuesday, April 9th, 2013 Written by Leo Widrich

Why did the Mona Lisa become one of the most famous paintings of all time? Thats a question an incredible amount of people have asked themselves in the past. And one possible answer is this: because of her unique smile. The smile is is the the symbol that was rated with the highest positive emotional content concludes scientist Andrew Newberg. And for me personally, Ive been very reluctant before embracing smiling . Only a few years back, when one of my teachers told me: Why dont you smile more? Go learn how to do it!, I started to research learn about the actual power of smiling. I had a brief moment of disbelief that anyone can learn how to smile better. And yet, since then, for many years, I practiced smiling in the mirror and on many other occasions. Thats a fact Ive often been a little embarrassed to admit, yet the research of this post confirms how powerful practicing a bit of smiling can be. After recently discussing which words matter the most when we talk, digging into the facts of smiling was one of the most mentioned suggestions. So here we go: The science of smiling: What happens to our brain when we smile Lets say you experience a positive situation and you see a friend you havent met in a long time. This means that neuronal signals travel from the cortex of your brain to the brainstem (the oldest part of our brains). From there, the cranial muscle carries the signal further towards the smiling muscles in your face. Sounds simple enough right? And yet, thats only where it starts. Once the smiling muscles in our face contract, there is a positivefeedback loop that now goes back to the brain and reinforces our feeling of joy. To put more succinctly: Smiling stimulates our brains reward mechanisms in a way that even chocolate, a wellregarded pleasure-inducer, cannot match. Smiling then, seems to give us the same happiness that exercising induces terms of how our brain responds. In short: our brain feels good and tells us to smile, we smile and tell our brain it feels good and so forth.

Thats why in a recent research scientists concluded that smiling can be as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 Pounds Sterling in cash. Here is a brief description of the different muscles the cranial muscle activates in our face:

Real vs. Fake smiles can we tell the difference? Whenever we smile, there are 2 potential muscles we activate. The first one is the zygomaticus major and it controls the corners of your mouth. Whenever this muscle only is activated, its not actually a genuine smile. Scientists call this also the social smile. The second muscle, known to show sincerity is theobicularis occuli and it encircles our eye socket. The true smile also called the duchenne smile, named after the famous scientist who first separated the mouth corners-only smile, from the eye socket one. Here is a comparison:

Our brain can in fact distinguish very easily between whats real and whats fake. In fact researcher Dr. Niedenthal argues there are 3 ways we can do so:

Our brain compares the geometry of a persons face to a standard smile We think about the situation and judge whether a smile is expected. Most importantly: We automatically mimic the smile, to feel ourselves whether it is fake or real. If it is real, our brain will activate the same areas from the smiler and we can identify it as a real one.

Niedenthal then experimented with how important it is to be able to mimic smiles and whether we could still tell the genuine smiles from the fake ones: Dr. Niedenthal and her colleagues asked the students to place a pencil between their lips. This simple action engaged muscles that could otherwise produce a smile. Unable to mimic the faces they saw, the students had a much harder time telling which smiles were real and which were fake. So the fact that we cant try it for ourselves, leaves us almost unable to identify any smile as fake or real. Why is this so important though to know what and what doesnt trigger us to understand smiling? Here are some more insights:

What smiling does to our health, success and feeling of happiness Smiling can change our brain, through the powerful feedback loop we discussed above. And your brain keeps track of your smiles, kind of like a smile scorecard. It knows how often youve smiled and which overall emotional state you are in therefore. Smiling reduces stress that your body and mind feel, almost similar to getting good sleep, according to recent studies. And smiling helps to generate more positive emotions within you. Thats why we often feel happier around children they smile more. On average, they

do so 400 times a day. Whilst happy people still smile 40-50 times a day, the average of us only does so 20 times. Why does this matter? Smiling leads to decrease in the stress-induced hormones that negatively affect your physical and mental health, say the latest studies: In the famous yearbook study, they tracked the lives of women who had the best smiles in yearbook photos compared to the rest. Women who smiled the most lived happier lives, happier marriages and had fewer setbacks.Here is a sample of the women from the observed yearbook. I let you guess who was successful and who wasnt:

The baseball card study also found a clear correlation between how big a smile someone made on a baseball card photo and how long they would live. The people who smiled the most turned out to live 7 years longer than those who didnt.

Of course, the above only shows a correlation, and not a causation. And yet, I cant help but agree that smiling breeds trust, makes you happier and helps you to live longer. And most importantly, smiling can be learnt. Or to put more precisely, re-learnt. Most of us forget how to smile genuinely over time, as we adopt social smiles more and more. Here is a guide to get your genuine, duchenne smile back:

A 3 step guide to a better smile Imagine a situation of joy before an event: One of the best ways to make your smile more genuine and real comes from researcher Andrew Newberg: We just asked a person, before they engage in a conversation with someone else, visualize someone they deeply love, or recall an event that brought them deep satisfaction and joy. Its such an easy exercise, and we train people to do it in our workshops. Personally, Ive tried to do the same experiment before a phone call or even before writing an email. Ive found that people can always tell if you have a smile on your face, even if they dont see you. Ive even tracked how this improves response rates to emails I send for Buffer related feature suggestions or partnerships for example. That should most likely be another blogpost. Practice smiling in front of the mirror

Here is something Ive done for almost a few years in the morning: Stand in front of the mirror and smile. Practice to activate both your mouth corners and your eye sockets. You will know whenever your smile is genuine, because you will immediately feel happy and relaxed. The power of a smile, even practiced in the mirror is that it can invoke the emotion immediately. Become comfortable with smiling A lot of people (myself included!) see smiling as something that makes you weak. Personally, Ive found that developing a better smile starts with being very comfortable to smile a lot. If in your head, you can imagine yourself going through the day and smiling lots to everyone and everything, thats often when a happier life starts. Yes, this might be just a small change in thinking. And yet, for me personally, that was the most important part to smile more every day. Quick last fact: Women smile more than Men, here is why Here is something interesting. Researcher LaFrance concluded that overall women smile a lot more than men. This comes not just from the fact that they might be happier, but also, that socially, it is more acceptable for women to smile, she says. And it doesnt stop there: In general women are more accurate than men in detecting what is really going on with someone by looking at their face and listening to their voice. Women are more likely to tell the difference between a felt and a fake smile. Smiling is definitely more than just a contraction of muscles in your face. In fact Mother Teresas We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do. reaches probably even further than imagined. What have you discovered about smiling? Id love your insights on this. Smiling Reduces Stress And Helps The Heart Wednesday 1 August 2012 - 12am PST

A new study suggests that holding a smile on one's face during periods of stress may help the heart. The study, due to be published in a forthcoming issue ofPsychological Science, lends support to the old adage "grin and bear it", suggesting it may also make us feel better. The study is the work of psychological scientists Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman of the University of Kansas. They looked at how different types of smiling, and people being aware of smiling, affected their ability to recover from stressful episodes. Kraft told the press they wanted to explore whether old adages like "grin and bear it" had any scientific merit.

The age-old saying suggests smiling not only signals happiness to others, but could also be a way to help cope with life stresses. Previous studies have shown that smiling affects emotion, and that positive emotions have an effect on stress. But Kraft and Pressman are the first to experiment with types of smile to see what effect they have on stress. Researchers often class smiles as being of two types: standard smiles, where only the mouth shapes the smile, and genuine or Duchenne smiles, where the muscles around the mouth and the eyes shape the smile. (The latter was named after Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne, who used electrophysiology to show how truly happy smiles also use the muscles around the eyes).

Kraft and Pressman experimented with types of smile to see what effect they had on stress For their latest study, Kraft and Pressman invited 169 volunteers from a Midwestern university to undergo an experiment in two stages: training and testing. In the training stage, the researchers taught the volunteers how to either hold their faces in a neutral expression, hold a standard smile, or hold a Duchenne smile. They also got some of the volunteers to hold their face in a forced smile by holding chopsticks in their mouths. In the testing phase, the volunteers performed some multi-tasking activities, during which they held their faces in the manner instructed. The activities were designed to increase stress levels, but the volunteers didn't know this. One test for instance, asks the participant to use their non-dominant hand to follow the path of a moving star that they observe in a mirror. The other test involves plunging a hand into a bucket of ice water.

The researchers monitored the participants' heart rates as they performed their various tasks. They found the participants who were instructed to smile, and in particular those whose faces expressed genuine or Duchenne smiles, had lower heart rates after recovery from the stress activities than the ones who held their faces in neutral expressions. Even the volunteers who held chopsticks in their mouths, that forced the muscles to express a smile (but they had not explicitly been instructed to smile), had lower recovery heart rates compared to the ones who held neutral facial expressions. The researchers say their findings suggest smiling during brief periods of stress may help reduce the body's stress response, regardless of whether the person actually feels happy or not. Pressman said this could be useful to know, for instance if you find yourself stuck in a traffic jam, try to hold your face in a smile for a few moments: it may do more than just help you "grin and bear it", it may actually help your heart health too. Written by Catharine Paddock PhD Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without the permission of Medical News Today.

References Additional Information Citations "Grin and Bear It: The Influence of Manipulated Positive Facial Expression on the Stress Response"; Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman; expected to be published in Psychological Science August 2012. Source: Association for Psychological Science. Reader OpinionsMost recent opinions are shown first Smiling can sooth oncoming panic attacksPosted by C M on 23 Jan 2013 at 1:59 pmSuffering from panic attacks and general stress/anxiety over the past decade, after hearing about this study, since not much else was cutting it, I decided to give it a whirl... Smiling helps...surprisingly... I absolutely doubted the hell out of it, but anything is better than dealing with panicked feelings all day... So while its not a cure to school shootings, and its obviously just scratching the surface kind of study... there is something there...so yah, grin and bear it... don't overdramatize things C... *smile* :) Post a Reply Alert a Moderator

Cliche's hurtPosted by c on 14 Jan 2013 at 5:47 pmI am not any kind of scientist but it seems to me that this must have been a very small test study. Where are the numbers? Tell me about the volunteers. In my support group, I know many people who have had multiple traumas (myself included). People like us smile all the time so we don't upset others, because no one likes to look at a down face all the time, but our pain is still there. Example: The people who survived the massacre in the CT school. Will smiling help the friends and family feel better? Not likely. Yes they will be smiling, but inside they will not. I don't recommend telling someone who is hurting to, "grin and bear it". Cliche's hurt. Post a Reply Alert a Moderator "Smiling is the best medicine"Posted by Magda on 6 Aug 2012 at 5:08 pmHere in Brazil we have a saying "Smiling is the best medicine." I believe this article confirms a popular adage. Everyone goes through stressful situations and how to react to these situations can be a valuable difference. Post a Reply Alert a Moderator Smile from your HeartPosted by Carl on 31 Jul 2012 at 9:07 amThis study is interesting but rather artificial and therefore only scratches the surface of something very significant. Following is a comment I posted on June 20 in response to the Huffington Post piece 'Smile' by Yoko Ono. For almost 20 years I've had a practice of smiling just before I fall asleep and just as I am waking up, as well as a lot of times throughout each day. My intent is to make my smile my first conscious act and my last conscious act each day. I highly recommend this. It's simple and can be highly effective in improving the quality of your life. It can help you sleep better, help you wake up better, and help you...and others...flow more easily through each day. When you share your smile with others, let it show, let it radiate warmth, light, love. It doesn't have to be big and flashy to do that, but it has to be real, from your heart. When you're by yourself, it will work even if it's subtle, if your intention is real. When you smile for and with others, give your smile away freely and sincerely, with no attachments, no expectations. A smile is a gift - a gift for you and for anyone else who is bathed in it. It warms hearts. This is the kind of global warming we need and can really live with. Post a Reply Alert a Moderator Old NewsPosted by Dado W on 31 Jul 2012 at 8:43 amThis is old news. Everyone has heard that laughter does good like medicine! You have to smile in order to laugh. ;) So, smile on! In addition, hugs also proves to increase endorphins which lowers stress and aide in the lowing heart problems. So again, hug at least ten people a day! ;)

Study: Smile - happiness is good for you

Happiness is good for the heart - and new evidence shows that may be true in the literal sense and not just the figurative. A study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looked at the link between happiness and a number of health markers for more than 200 adults. All of the men and women who participated in the study were government employees

living in London, England, and were white, between the ages of 45 and 59, had never been diagnosed with heart disease or high blood pressure, and had several years to go before retirement. All the women involved in the study had gone through menopause or were going through it. The researchers assessed each participant on a work day and on a weekend day. Participants were measured both at work and at play on a number of criteria, includingblood pressure and heart rate, levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and blood fibrinogen levels, a marker for inflammation that can be a predictor of heart disease. Measurements were taken both under normal conditions and following a mental stress test. Under each condition, participants rated their happiness on a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high). There were no differences in happiness between people who were married or single, male or female, or of varying levels of socioeconomic status. But across the board, the happiest participants had the best results for the various health markers. For example, the happier participants had lower heart rates than those who were less joyous, even after accounting for such factors as age, BMI, and lifestyle differences such as physical activity levels, smoking habits, and status at work. Happier people also had, on average, 32% lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can have an effect on everything from blood pressure to blood sugar levels. And while most people had an increase in blood fibrinogen during the stress test, the least happy people were almost four times more likely to see a rise in their levels of this marker for inflammation. But apart from the stress test, there was no difference in blood fibrinogen levels among participants who reported varying degrees of happiness. "Our findings indicate that positive affective states are related to favourable profiles of functioning in several biological systems and may thereby be relevant to risk of development of physical illness," conclude the researchers. But the study doesn't show that happiness actually causes these chemical changes merely that there is a connection between the two. As well, because the results were collected over such a short period, more research needs to be done on the long-term health differences between happy and unhappy people. This isn't the first study to associate your mental well-being with your physical health. Studies have linked stress to weight gain and diabetes, while depression has been linked to everything from an increased risk of osteoporosis to dementia to heart disease. So when it comes to your health, while we can't say it's a case of "Don't worry, be happy," a cheerful outlook on life may keep you feeling better both physically and mentally.

Smile for better health Be contagious with your grin Intelligencer Journal Lancaster New Era Updated Nov 04, 2013 15:10

http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/914346_Smile-for-better-health.html

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Related Topics happiness (11) By PAT JOHNSON Correspondent People get ecstatic when they're able to coax smiles from a newborn. Photographers are always urging their subjects to "smile for the camera." When tough times hit, we're encouraged to "put on a happy face." But some days you just don't feel like smiling. Smile anyway. "Our attitude is manifested in how we feel about ourselves smiling is one indicator of how good someone feels about himself," says Richard Wheeler of Wellness Counseling Associates, 439 N. Duke St. "I often use humor in counseling," Wheeler says. "I always encourage people to bring humor into their lives. To be more positive. To laugh and smile more." Studies have shown that smiling "activates areas of the brain associated with reward and triggers release of the neurotransmitter dopamine," according to information from the University of the Rockies, whose graduate program specializes in social and behavioral sciences. "Smiling also appears to stimulate responses in areas of the brain involving cognition and emotional processing. Plus, there is said to be a link between smiling and factors such as heart rate, blood pressure and other stress level indicators," according to the university's report. "When I look at someone, their smile is their first feature that I see. To me, a healthy smile is a sign of both physical and mental health," says Dr. Laura S. Harkin, at SmileMaker Cosmetic and Family Dentistry, 507 W. Broad St., New Holland. "Most often, a smile is unorchestrated, contagious and spur-of-the-moment," Harkin says.

"Equally as often, however, a smile and positive thought are a choice. I do believe that committing oneself to being happy leads to more rewarding relationships." "When we feel happy, we naturally smile. We can't even help it," says Carin Rockind, who has a master's degree in applied positive psychology. "An adorable puppy makes a cute face, or you see an old, dear friend approach, or you stand in awe of nature's beauty, your mouth turns upward in a smile and you feel good," adds Rockind, an author, life coach and adjunct professor at University of Pennsylvania. The question is, how can we make ourselves happier when we don't naturally feel it? "Most people don't realize that smiling is not only the product of feeling good but smiling can actually cause us to feel better," she says. "Research out by Mark Stibich at Columbia University shows that smiling can change our mood, relieve stress, boost the immune system, lower blood pressureand make us more attractive to others. Plus, smiles are contagious so when someone smiles at us, we naturally smile back, creating a moment of joint happiness that some researchers consider to be 'love.' " She suggests that smiling during brief periods of stress may help reduce the body's stress response. "So faking a smile for a moment even if we don't feel like it may be beneficial to the body." In his writings, "The Benefits of Laughter," Wheeler says: "Just as studies show the positive effects of smiling occur whether the smile is fake or real, faked laughter also provides benefits. So smile more and fake laughter; you'll still achieve positive effects, and the fake merriment may lead to real smiles and laughter." "However, I always recommend that clients feel their true feelings," Rockind adds. "We don't want sadness to downward spiral into ruminative misery and depression. So, it is important to feel the feeling, and then place yourself in natural situations that will make you smile, if for just a brief moment." She suggests that you "surround yourself with people you love, go out in nature, do an activity that brings you joy and feel the benefits of natural smiles. And if someone really wants to smile more, add more meaning to your life. "Connect with something larger than yourself," Rockind says. "While a doughnut, a raise or a new car will make you temporarily happier, you'll quickly tire of these things and pretty soon, you'll frown from feeling gross after the doughnut, or your boss will again annoy you so you'll forget about the raise, and the car will get dirty." It is much more important to find hobbies, work and a life that feels fulfilling and purposeful, like you are making a difference. Those things bring lasting satisfaction, she has discovered. "It is important to have activities that nourish your sense of wonder, feed your soul and put you into a state of flow."