Smile to Look Better and Live Longer
Debbie Lyn Toomey, RN
Author of The Happiness Result
Smile!
Smiling is my favorite yoga pose. It makes me feel better and puts a smile on others’ faces, too.
It’s a natural mind-body and body-mind happiness booster. When you’re happy, you typically smile and your whole body responds by releasing a cascade of feel-good hormones. What’s also interesting is that even when you are not happy, and you smile, you can trick you brain into thinking that you’re happy, and will start releasing the same feel-good hormones as if you were truly happy. That is why smiling is both a mind-body and a body-mind technique that we can use to add more positivity into our daily life.
Smiling, as you may know, is contagious and conveys so many nice feelings to others who are lucky enough to see it. The words to an old song said it all. “When you’re smiling, when you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” There is research on smiling that has revealed many interesting bits of information that will surely make you do it more often.
Here are five simple facts about smiling that can help you look better and live longer.
- Smiling boosts your mood and increases your sense of well-being. Dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins get released and make you feel very good. Next time you want to feel better, smile. This action will trick your brain into thinking that you feel happy and it, in turn, will start releasing feel-good hormones to match it.
- Smiling makes you look younger. People who smile are perceived as looking years younger than those with a frown on their face. If you ever want to look younger than your age, smile more.
- Smiling makes you look thinner. People who are frowning are also perceived as looking heavier than those who are smiling. Smiling seems to portray people as healthier and thinner. If you want to look slimmer, be sure to smile more.
- Smiling can predict your life span. Researchers studied old baseball cards. It was found that baseball players who had big smiles on their face lived longer than those who did not have big smiles on the pictures. Professional players who had beaming smiles lived approximately seven years longer than their counterparts.
- Smiling makes you look friendly and kind. Experts determined that people who smiled were perceived as being better natured than those who didn’t. People who did not smile were thought of as being unwelcoming.
These are just a few fun facts about smiling that I hope will brighten your day. Next time you want to feel happier, look younger and thinner, and appear friendlier, flash your pearly whites. Because if you do, you might just live longer. Smiling can make someone’s day, too. If you are around people who are stressed and overworked, try giving a nice warm smile to show your support and concern. It’s a gift that keeps on giving. Best of all, it’s free! Who knows, your smile could just be the best thing that could happen to them that day. To learn more about how we can work together visit www.HealthandHappinessSpecialist.com.
