Smile

by Carol A.

Are you aware that when we ask people to smile for the camera we are actually creating joy?

In the 1800's Charles Darwin proposed the Facial Feedback Response Theory - that happiness does not make us smile, as much as smiling makes us happy. He maintained that even mimicking a smile actually makes you feel better. Recent research has proven him correct - smiling actually stimulates the brain's reward mechanism!

One study from the 1950s, evaluated the smiles in high school yearbook photos and found that the biggest smiles were the best predictors,over a 30 year period, of well-being and success. A similar study around the same time used baseball cards to predict longevity. The players who were not smiling lived an average of 72.9 years, small smilers lived 75 years, and those who were beaming lived 79.9 years. 

Here's how it plays out. There are two muscle sets involved in smiling. The zygomaticus major moves the corners of your mouth. That's the easy one. Whether you are using your social skills or your emotional ones, you can make those corners rise. But the secret to a genuine smile lies in your obicularis occule muscle group - you guessed it - your eye sockets. Those beautiful "crows feet" really do reflect your joy.

But there's more to it than that. MRI's demonstrate that a cooler brain produces the hormones that create good emotions while a warmer brain creates negative emotions. The hypothalamus regulates our emotions, but it also happens to control our body temperature. (Think about that - shivers can result from being freezing or from fear; sweating can come from excitement but also from anxiety.) Our carotid artery travels through the cavernous sinus, which also happens to contain the facial veins. When you smile, the facial muscles contract, constricting the facial veins. The reduced blood flow is cooler, which in turn cools the brain on arrival. A smile reduces blood pressure, generates the release of endorphins and the reduction of stress hormones. A smile produces the same brain activity as :

       a good night's sleep

       2600 chocolate bars

       $25,000.00 in cash

And science also shows that it is hard to frown when looking at a smile. Involuntarily, we judge the genuineness of a person's smile by reflecting it. When subjects were asked to judge people's smiles while clamping down on a pencil (to prevent the facial muscles from imitating the smile) the accuracy of the judgement deteriorated measurably and significantly. Yet when we are not biting on pencils, smiling really is contagious. Smiling begets smiling - a symbiotic relationship that generates warmth and good feelings in each of us. In addition, you are perceived differently when you smile. People see you as more reliable, attractive, relaxed and sincere.

           More than 1/3 of us smile 20 times a day

           14% of us smile 5 times a day

           Babies smile in the womb

           Children smile on average 400 times a day

Here are some smiles for you to peruse while you listen to this!

In this holiday season and always 

spread the joy with your beautiful smile!

(Our Monthly Focus for December is "Joy."  Please give us the chance to reflect your favorite smiles by posting them on our Flickr, Facebook, Instagram and Focus on Phoneography sites)

(*This post blatantly borrows from the following sources:

Ron Gutman on NPR radio Hour's TED Talk; Leo Widrich - "Buffer," a business blog; Daniel Goleman - Science section New York Times 7/18/89; Ron Riggio + Sarah Stevenson, Psychology Today 6/25/12; Journal Neuropsychologia; Huffington post 8/1/12)