Have you ever wanted to be a superhero and make everyone happy?
You can, if you harness the hidden power of your smile.
Here are some fun facts about smiling that you probably never knew:
Smiles can be used as a LIFE indicator
Believe it or not, smiling can show you what your current quality of life is and how well you are living.
That’s because if you’re smiling, it represents your internal happiness and that is a good sign that your life is going pretty well.
A 30-year study conducted by UC Berkeley examined the photos of students in a yearbook, and tried to measure their success and overall well-being throughout their life.
What did they find?
Positive emotional expression predicted favorable outcomes in marriage and personal well-being 30 years later.
Check out Barack Obama’s year-book photo:
Smiles can predict how long you live
A study conducted on baseball cards found an interesting relationship between the players’ smiles and their lifespan.
They studied the smiles of baseball players from the 1950s and split them into three categories: “no smile,” “partial smile” and what is known as a “Duchenne smile,” or the authentic, spontaneous expression of happiness named for a 19th century French neurologist.
Players who did not show any smiles in their cards lived only 72.9 years on average, and those with a slight smile lived an average of 75 years.
How about those with big toothy smiles?
They lived an average of 79.9 years.
That’s a whole 7 years of living more than if you don’t smile.
Smiling more can also make you healthier
Smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine.
And if that’s not enough, it can also increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphins, and reduce overall blood pressure.
Even forcing a fake smile can reduce stress and lower your heart rate.
A study conducted by the University of Cardiff in Wales found that people who could not frown due to botox injections were happier on average than those who could frown.
Simply the act of smiling can give you a healthier and better life.
Smiling makes you look good in the eyes of others
A study at Penn State University found that when you smile more, you’re not just more likable and courteous, but you actually appear to be more competent and able!
Smiling is basically a life hack
So if you want to…
- make yourself look more capable in front of others,
- be more approachable to strangers,
- lead a healthier life,
- and extend your lifespan,
All you have to do is widen that grin.
