A year without smiles.
I saw a post about touch the other day, and it was essentially discussing how the lack of touch affects our mental health. If you read my other article, you know that I have been thinking a lot lately about the ripple effects of 2020 mental health. As I was writing that, I had remembered I had heard about studies about how important smiling was. So I ended up doing some research. I was going to put that in the other article, but decided it would be a whole side tangent article altogether. So, today we are talking about that big ol’ beautiful smile of yours!
(Also, a quick side note - I know in a lot of countries that smiling actually can mean you are up to no good! So I’m really talking in the American context. So hear me out :) )
Smiling makes you look and feel good.
Okay, so this isn’t necessarily about mental health but I think it is still important. A fun little tidbit is that you are actually better-looking when you smile. Studies have shown that you are more likely seen as reliable, relaxed, and sincere when you do smile. A study published in the journal Neuropsychologia said that when you see an attractive, smiling face it actually activates your orbitofrontal cortex. This is the part of the brain is associated with feeling rewarded. So the study seemed to suggest that when you look or see a smile, you feel rewarded. How cool.
In an 2011 finding by researchers at the Face Research Laboratory at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. In the study they asked subjects to rate smiling and attractiveness. They found that most all the participants were attracted to individuals who smiled (1). So if you’re looking for a date, it sounds like you need to just put on a grin and take a walk!
Smiling is contagious.
I should probably be more hesitant to use the word contagious in a pandemic, but you get my point. As humans, we naturally smile when we see others doing so. There is a part of your brain that essentially controls your facial expressions. This includes smiling when you are happy, or it even can include mirroring a response and a smile of someone else. I is called the the cingulate cortex, and it is an area where the responses are created automatically and unconsciously. . There is a Swedish study where subjects were shown pictures of emotions such as joy, surprise, anger and fear. They would ask the subjects to frown when a picture of a smile appeared. However, they found that subjects naturally imitated the images they saw. They found it takes a very conscious effort to frown if you encounter a smile (1).
Monkeys taught us everything.
Okay, that sounds silly. But if you haven’t heard of the Harry Harlow’s study, it really is fascinating. Essentially they did an experiment where they presented monkeys with two options. One was a wire mother that offered food. The other option was a warm and soft cloth mother. In the study, the monkeys most always chose the soft caring mother over the one that provided them food. This study has been used so often in so many psychological studies; however, I think the principles it taught us are important now more than ever. That emotions, love, connection are imperative to existence. That deep down, creation would chose love, warmth, and care over even food (2)!
Is it long term solution?
I have often heard, if you smile, it makes you happier. There is a level where this is true. However, an article I found cited some studies that suggest that faking your happiness actually can continue frustration with your job. So there is a level where suppressing your emotions isn’t healthy. However, studies had found that it an help with short, more acute stressors. It isn’t a long term solution but it can provide some immediate assistance (3).
Final Thoughts
I hope this can just encourage you to evaluate… have you smiled this year? How have smiles impacted your life and those around you? I hope you can smile more in 2021. Authentically and full of the joy of the Lord, even in difficult moments.
SOURCES:
(1) “There’s Magic in Your Smile.” Psychology Today, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201206/there-s-magic-in-your-smile#:~:text=A%20study%20published%20in%20the%20journal%20Neuropsychologia%20reported. Accessed 29 Jan. 2021.
(2) van Rosmalen, Lenny, et al. “The Nature of Love: Harlow, Bowlby and Bettelheim on Affectionless Mothers.” History of Psychiatry, 23 Jan. 2020, p. 0957154X1989899, 10.1177/0957154x19898997.
(3) “How to De-Stress with a Smile.” Verywell Mind, www.verywellmind.com/beat-stress-with-a-smile-2223757. Accessed 29 Jan. 2021.
