Have you ever spent time thinking about one of the simplest emotional expressions? A smile is the universal sign of happiness, greeting, pleasure, recognition, and other positive emotions. An authentic smile is a natural human response to happiness or pleasure and is a great method of communication. It conveys a message of happiness, joy, and friendliness to others. This simple human behavior can have incredible benefits.
In this article, you’ll be reading about the benefits of smiling on your mental and physical health, and both your social and work life.
Smiling Can Improve Your Mental Health
Smiling can help relieve many mild psychological problems. This small facial expression relaxes and relieves negative emotions such as tension, reduces stress, and improves general well-being. Recent studies have found that depressed people smile less often than their healthy counterparts as this simple action releases dopamine, serotonin, and other chemicals in the brain which help people feel happy. Hence, using those facial muscles to smile, has the power to relieve depression and stress – naturally.
Also, smiling helps increase self-esteem, affirm self-image, and improve personal relationships. One smile causes the brain to release endorphins, which is a natural drug that acts as an antidepressant. Furthermore, serotonin is released when smiling which is a neurotransmitter that helps to boost moods and improve the mental state. It can help decrease stress hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine which boost the morale of patients and enhance disease resistance.
Smiling Can Improve Your Physical Health
Smiling can help improve your physical health by positively affecting various body functions. It opens up the lungs by 7% and increases heart rate, oxygen flow, and blood pressure which is helpful in increasing physical activity levels. At Stanford University, researchers found that people who smiled often felt better than those who didn’t smile as much. People who managed a smile on their face three times a day for a couple of minutes were found to be less tense and in a more relaxed mood.
A genuine smile automatically produces positive emotions, which in turn work to improve the functioning of multiple organs. In fact, smiling can help prevent heart attacks. An experiment conducted on 6,000 men showed that after 5 years 45% of participants who did not smile frequently had died, but only 19% of the participants who smiled frequently had died. Being happy is good for your health, smiling helps to boost the immune system and lower blood pressure
Smiling Improves Your Social and Work-Life
A warm smile can brighten up your face and make people like you instantly because smiling is a way of communicating friendliness and openness to others. A person who smiles is seen as warm, welcoming, and non-threatening by most other people. The majority of people tend to return a smile when they see one – which leads to more positive experiences for both parties involved as they feel happier. They do say that smiles are contagious!
Smiling has also been shown to improve productivity in the workplace. Studies show that smiling at staff members or colleagues helps increase their efficiency and satisfaction levels. Researchers have found that when managers smile more often in the workplace, their employees are more likely to be productive in their tasks because of this positive sentiment. You can also win deals or attract new customers if you’re smiling as it shows that you’re relaxed, confident, and connect with people easily.
Conclusion
A smile is the simplest way of communicating friendship, happiness, and pleasure to other people. Having a happy face has powerful psychological benefits that improve moods, relieve stress, and prevent heart attacks. A smile helps beat depression, improves your mental as well as physical health and makes meeting new people & networking easier. Smiling is a natural human response that automatically produces positive emotions which in turn work to improve the functioning of multiple organs.
If you want to bring a smile to others and yourself, let it be by helping breast cancer patients and survivors. You can do this by becoming involved with us here at Pawsitively 4 Pink by volunteering or even making a small donation.