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Scientific reasons to smile
“Everyone smiles in the same language.”
- George Carlin
It’s such a simple facial expression, yet it can do so much for us and others. Not surprisingly, research tells us, as adults, we are not smiling nearly as much as we did when we were kids. It correlates with growing up and taking on more responsibilities, like possibly raising children of your own. While we may not have similar carefree lifestyles as we did when we were preteens, we still have plenty we can smile about. There are also numerous health benefits to flashing our smiles more often, including benefits to others.
Smiling can help relieve stress and elevate our moods while even helping us live longer. So just by simply smiling more often we improve our mental and physical health. Not a bad reason to find more moments in our day to smile. We can always find more reasons to smile. I feel we just get bombarded by circumstances that want to steal our smile from us and rob us of any good mood in the process. What’s so fascinating is the simple act of smiling alerts our brains to get happy, almost coaxing us into better moods. What a great way to combat a bad mood! Do stuff that makes you smile or laugh, or both!
Another fun fact about smiling is observing others who are smiling triggers a physiological response in us to smile back. Even if we don’t smile back…
