I’m going to let you in on some of the secrets and science of smiling today.
I’ve talked before about how I love the small things that make the difference, and smiling is definitely one of those.
And smiling can lead to laughing and who doesn’t feel better after having a great laugh?
It’s such a simple thing and when you understand the science behind it, you may find yourself cracking a smile even more often!
I’ve been intrigued about what happens when we smile – and what comes first, the feeling of happiness or the smiling. I recently learned about some studies to understand what happens when we smile.
The Science of Smiling
We have to go all the way back and thank Charles Darwin for having a hypothesis about facial feedback. He suggested that emotions could be altered by the activity of facial muscles.
In essence, if you are feeling down, you can fake a smile and it will create the emotion of happiness in your brain.
It wasn’t until relatively recently that our technology, specifically MRIs, allowed researchers to study if this hypothesis could be proven or disproven.
The studies that I learned about used cosmetic Botox injections to limit the muscle contraction associated with smiles and frowns.
And what was discovered was that without the ability to crack a full smile or frown, the study subjects had a reduction in the experience of the feelings or emotions associated with smiling or frowning.
There was also a study by a research team at the University of Cardiff in Wales that found people whose ability to frown is compromised by those same type of cosmetic Botox injections, were happier than people who could frown.
What this all boils down it is that these studies show that suppressing the ability to smile or frown impacts our brain!
So how does that work?
Smiling is complex and involves many areas of our brains. From the motor cortex which controls muscles to the frontal lobe that helps you understand context and to the limbic system which modulates positive emotions. Our brains literally light up on an MRI when we smile!
When we smile our brain triggers the release of endorphins and then neurons fire to trigger your facial muscles into a smile.
The smiling muscles in our face as they contract, they fire back to our brain stimulating our reward system which is what releases more endorphins.
In short, we create a smile, whether real or fake, and it stimulates more happy feelings and endorphins.
Since there is so much firing and going on, it strengthens connections.
In fact, emotions are a great way to rapidly strengthen connections by myelinating the pathways.
The more you laugh and smile, the happier you are and the happier you are the more you laugh and smile.
Did you see how I just snuck that photo of a dog ‘smiling‘ in there so you could practice! Dogs don’t actually smile, but I cannot help but smile when I see photos like that! It’s something to do with the pattern we are looking at on faces!
What Comes First – The Smile Or The Happy Feelings?
Sounds a little bit like the chicken and egg!
What comes first? The smile or the feeling of happiness?
From when I was a child, I was always known for being super smiley! To this day, I will often flash a smile at strangers and relish seeing them notice and smile back which of course makes me feel even happier.
So, what is actually going on?
It’s a feedback loop!
And it seems it doesn’t matter where it starts. If you fake a smile, you actually feel the feelings of happiness and if someone sees you smiling, they can’t tell the difference and are very likely to smile back.
So we can create the emotion of happiness by several mechanisms. We can feel happy by what we are experiencing, remembering or seeing. That happy emotion is translated into a physical smile and the smile feeds back and makes us feel even happier.
Smiling Can Change Your Emotions and State
So, now that we know we can use smiling to change your emotions and state, why is it so important to smile more each day?
Smiling is contagious. By that I mean, when we see someone smiling, we smile back. It’s hard not to!
In his 2011 Ted Talk – Ron Gutman, founder and former CEO of HealthTap talks about the hidden power of smiling.
He mentions that the effect of a smile in terms of happiness in our brain has been measured to be the equivalent of 2000 bars of chocolate or getting 16,000 pounds sterling in cash!
He also mentions that on average children smile up to 400 times per day. That’s a lot of chocolate and cash in a day! No wonder this boy is smiling!
Do you know any other way to feel that happy and good each day?
You have to admit learning about the science of smiling really helps to put into perspective the amazing feelings we have at our fingertips… or should I say cheek and eye muscles!
Until next time,
LIVE, LOVE, SMILE & THRIVE