Smiling is a nice way to make a good first impression. It tells people that you’re friendly and pleasant to be around. In fact, scientists are just beginning to discover the many benefits of smiling.
It turns out that smiling positively impacts the chemistry of your brain. Recent research suggests that just by smiling you can improve your mood, your health, and your relationships with others. Smiling more often can even benefit your career.
How Smiling Affects Your Brain
It may sound strange that you can improve your mood just by smiling, but this claim is backed up by research. When you smile, even if you don’t really feel like it, it causes your brain to release chemicals called endorphins.
Endorphins are automatically released by your brain when you’re in pain or under a lot of stress. They’re designed to improve your mood and make you feel better.
Smiling Makes You More Happy and Healthy
According to an article in Forbes Magazine, smiling causes your brain to release endorphins that will improve your mood “even if you are consciously faking it.” If you smile often enough, you can even “retrain your brain” to improve your overall mood.
There’s research that demonstrates how smiling improves your health by reducing stress. In a study conducted by the University of Kansas, research subjects forced themselves to smile using chopsticks and this helped to lower their heart rate and recover more quickly from stress.
Smiling Improves Your Relationships with Others
Smiling helps spread feelings of goodwill and this makes people want to be around you. When you smile at people, about half of them will automatically smile back. That’s why smiling can create a chain reaction of friendliness and goodwill.
In an interview in Scientific American, UCLA neuroscientist Marco Iacobani explains how seeing another person smile initiates a “cascade of neural activity” in our brains. This happens because we have something called “mirror neurons” that cause us to reflect the mood of people around us.
Smiling for Success
Smiling more often can have a positive impact on your career. A study conducted by Penn State University found that service industry employees who smile more likely to be rated as friendlier and more competent by customers. People who smile more often are “likely to earn more money” during the course of their career.