How Smiling Affects Your Health

There’s a saying, “Life is like a mirror; smile, and it smiles back at you.”

What’s in a smile? Much more than just a pleasant expression, a smile brings a whole host of benefits to the people you smile at and to you! Studies have shown that even a smile that you have to “fake” soon becomes real by improving your mood. Our brains can not distinguish between a genuine smile and a forced smile when releasing mood and health-enhancing neurotransmitters. Smiling creates a flood of neurotransmitters, including endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, which are feel-good champions. Endorphins are a mild pain reliever; serotonin is an antidepressant, and dopamine is responsible for feelings of pleasure and motivation. A recent study suggests that smiling can even help recover from stress more quickly and reduce heart rate. Smiling can also increase endurance, lower blood pressure and strengthen your immune system.

Adding to the benefits of smiling is that it’s free and contagious! Smile at someone, and you are likely to get a smile back, spreading happiness and health. Some studies show benefits are extended to the recipient when seeing someone else smile. Our brain's reward center is activated, making us feel instantly a little happier, regardless if you are the initiator or the recipient of the smile. The natural reaction to seeing a smile is to smile; it becomes an infectious feel-good loop where everyone wins. Without a doubt, smiling improves both your physical and mental health.

Research has shown children to smile an average of 400 times per day. We are born to smile frequently. Unfortunately, by the time we reach adulthood, the average happy adult only smiles 40-50 times per day. As we get older, the number of smiles declines to approximately 20 times per day. How can we move in the right direction and keep smiling?

Enter the smile challenge! World Smile Day is celebrated on the first Friday of October every year. Harvey Ball, who developed the famous yellow smiley face we all know, created this holiday because he believes you can improve the world one smile at a time. You do not need to wait for the official holiday to rack up the smiles. People have gotten creative with “smile challenges” to promote awareness of the benefits of smiling. A couple of examples are the sticky note challenge and the waiting challenge. For the sticky note challenge, take around a dozen of the popular little self-stick notes and write down things that make you smile. Then put these notes in places you often see, like on the bathroom mirror or the refrigerator door. Take notice of how seeing your smile prompting messages trigger you actually to smile and how this impacts your mood immediately and for the rest of the day. The waiting challenge is perfect because it involves situations that typically do not make most people smile. Waiting for anything, whether in a checkout line at a store, a red light, or a doctor's appointment, can be less than a pleasant experience. Next time you find yourself waiting, look around and smile at someone. The chances are excellent that they will smile back. You have just changed a less-than-pleasant experience into a much better one simply by smiling. Try it! You have nothing to lose and so much to gain!

One situation that can seriously impact a person's willingness to smile freely is feeling embarrassed by their smile due to dental issues. We at Smile Craft Dental Studio understand how vital smiling is to your wellbeing. We are experts at treating and correcting many types of dental problems that can leave you with a frown vs. your beautiful smile. Call us today to schedule your appointment to see how we can transform your smile into one that you are excited to share with the world. Let’s get you smiling! The world is waiting to smile with you!