Cracking a smile regularly may be good not just for your mood but for your health
By
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Cracking → crack → health
Reminding yourself to smile often can not only make more friendships but it can also make you feel better.
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you → remind → friendships
And rather than wait for a reason to smile, just making the physical change of literally turning that frown upside down could impact emotions, according to experts.
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making → wait → experts
Research backs up the fact that smiling goes a long way.
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smiling → back → way
Some older research has focused on this “facial feedback hypothesis,” according to Jeanne Tsai, a longtime psychology professor at Stanford University who runs the Culture and Emotion Lab.
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who → focus → Lab
In one classic study in the late 1980s, researchers would have subjects put a pencil between their lips and adopt a smile or a frown while viewing a positive movie clip like a cartoon.
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subjects → have → cartoon
Some subjects who smiled would feel the sensation of the smile more and be more amused.
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who → smile → smile
“When we’ve done that demonstration in classes, it works,” Tsai said.
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Tsai → do → classes
“When you’re doing it in a room by yourself, you’re not doing it in a social interaction, maybe it’s making you remember, or it’s an effect of remembering some good thing that happened and that would put you in a better mood.”
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that → do → mood
At the Orange County Academy of Sciences and Arts in Southern California, the power of a smile is taken very seriously.
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power → take → smile
An entire section on the charter school group’s website is dedicated to its philosophy that a smile can make a difference.
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smile → dedicate → difference
“Smiling creates a supportive classroom culture that makes students relaxed, active, and motivated,” according to the website.
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students → create → website
“It increases emotional well-being, lowers stress, and gives students confidence.”
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It → increase → confidence
How smiling can benefit health
Dr. Judy Ho, a Los Angeles clinical and forensic neuropsychologist who also teaches at Pepperdine University, discusses smiling as a coping strategy with some patients suffering depression or anxiety.
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who → benefit → depression
“I’m not suggesting that that’s the only way they can fix things,” Ho said.
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Ho → suggest → things
“It’s just like another thing that you can add to your toolbox.”
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you → ’ → toolbox
Smiling can affect one’s level of cortisol, a hormone the body releases partly to help regulate stress and mood, according to Ho.
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body → affect → Ho
Smiling can affect brain chemicals that are associated with positive feelings including endorphins, dopamine and serotonin.
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that → affect → endorphins
“People who smile during stressful tasks generally demonstrated lower heart rates during recovery than those maintaining neutral expressions,” Ho said.
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Ho → smile → expressions
“Smiling also reduced aspects of the body’s physiological stress response.
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Smiling → reduce → response
The hope is if you smile enough, you will start feeling it emotionally.
“In some ways it’s like a mediating effect,” she added.
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she → smile → effect
The value of a smile varies culture to culture
How smiling and even the openness of a smile are perceived are not universal.
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perceived → vary → smile
Tsai, the Stanford professor, has conducted research on how emotion in American culture puts value on trying to always feel positive and minimizing negativity and sadness.
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emotion → conduct → negativity
“It’s like the positive and the negative emotions are braided together, and so you don’t want to feel too positive or too negative,” Tsai said.
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Tsai → ’ → ?
“You want more of a balance between the two.”
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You → want → two
Her past studies also examined how European Americans and East Asians — including Taiwanese, South Koreans, Japanese and Hong Kong Chinese — look at a “neutral or a calm” smile versus a full-on grin.
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Americans → examine → grin
Subjects rated the differing facial expressions on warmth and trustworthiness.
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Subjects → rat → warmth
While some Americans saw the excited smiles as friendlier, some East Asians characterized those facial expressions as “emotionally unstable” or “unreliable.”
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Asians → see → expressions
“What kind of smile matters — whether it’s a calm, closed mouth smile more like the Dalai Lama or a big toothy excited smile like Julia Roberts,” Tsai said.
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Tsai → matter → Roberts
“We’ve done some series of studies in Taiwan and other East Asian contexts.
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We → do → Taiwan
They don’t like the big, toothy, excited smile unless it’s really situationally appropriate.”
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it → like → smile
In Thailand — known as “The Land of Smiles” — smiling is embedded in the culture.
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smiling → know → culture
Many teach-abroad programs where people can teach English as a foreign language in Thailand cite that smiling often with children and colleagues is key to showing respect, good manners and calmness.
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smiling → teach → respect
At the OCASA charter schools, smiling is part of an effort to make children feel seen.
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children → smile → effort
“I’ve always believed in wanting school to be a happy place for kids,” said RaNae Posey, principal of OCASA Capistrano Elementary School.
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Posey → believe → School
“To actually help them form habits of looking at the bright side of things.
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them → help → things
Mandating smiles may lead to more frowns
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Mandating → mandate → frowns
Women in recent years have smacked down the idea that they have to smile in the workplace while men do not.
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men → smack → workplace
Smiling can feel like a Catch-22 for some women and sometimes for people of color who may be stereotyped as unapproachable or cold if they don’t smile enough.
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they → feel → color
People do not like feeling like they have no “emotional autonomy,” according to Nicholas Coles, an assistant professor who runs the Social Science Collaboratory at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
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who → like → Gainesville
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
