Effects of Smile on your Well Being

Smile: generally speaking is a pleasant or encouraging experience, it is a facial expression in which the eyebrows brighten and mouth curves slightly upward.

Neurotransmitters called endorphins are released when you smile. They are triggered when the muscles involved in smiling are moved. The muscles movements are interpreted by the brain which in turn release these chemicals. Neurotransmitters called Endorphins are responsible for making us happy and to lower the stress level.

So if these positive consequences of ‘smile’ are due to movement of muscles then what about a ‘fake smile’.  When you aren’t really happy, you don’t smile from the inside but because of certain social circumstances you have to put a fake smile on your face. Let us first talk about why a fake smile is required. Fake smile comes when you want to hide your real feelings, your sadness or depression. The reason why people don’t want to reveal their depression is because everyone likes to have a happy and lively company, to be among happy people. Nobody wants to spend time listening to  your failures, or your tragedies, your bad luck, or your irrational thoughts. They want inspiration from happy people so as to be like them. Understanding this fact you don’t want to be rejected by everyone. You don’t want others to avoid you, the question here arises that does a “fake smile” also release endorphins, can it lower the stress level. Based on my own experience and observation I would say ‘yes’. ‘Faking a smile or laugh works as well as the real thing”. The brain doesn’t differentiate between real and fake but it interprets the positioning of the facial muscles. This is known as the “Facial feedback hypothesis. Its origin goes back to the conjectures of Charles Darwin and William James. According to the hypothesis, our facial expression directly affects our emotional experience. Hence, the more we smile, the more we stimulate the brain to release endorphins, the more endorphins are released, the more we feel relaxed and happier we will feel. What I want to convey is that endorphins make us feel good and less stressed no matter if the smile is real or fake. They act as the body’s natural pain killers. With the release of increased endorphins the stress hormone “Cortisone” is decreased. Cortisone contributes to the unpleasant feelings that we experience and by lowering it, we can reduce these negative feelings. Smiling is no doubt an attractive expression which is more likely to draw people towards you rather than push them away. Smiling is contagious. When you smile at someone, naturally you make them smile back to you. So you don’t only trigger your own brain to release endorphins but also do it for others and make them feel good. The smile that you bring on their face is a tool to fight your pain. The compliments that you get from people for being jolly, being full of life and for being confident, all these give you a feeling of satisfaction, achievement and success. It then raises your self-esteem, you feel high and successful in hiding your pain.  Successful in showing yourself happy in front of them even though inside you have many sad feelings. Your “Fake smile” is successful. This achievement is like a tool to fight your inside, the real feeling inside you. A happier and confident personality will serve you well in every field of life, be it your career, job environment or personal relationships. My purpose of writing all this and explaining all these changes related to smiling and its positive effects onto you and onto others around you is to convince you to smile and laugh regularly. Even if you are going through a hard phase of your life, don’t let it become a barrier in your movement of the facial muscles involved in smiling. Smile when you see a beautiful flower, smile when you see a child playing, smile when you are watering your plants. Believe me your smile won’t cost you anything. But it will give you a lot in return. The satisfaction of bringing a smile on others' faces  in response to your smile is amazing. Feel it, you will love it. As I wrote above, your brain doesn’t know the difference between a real smile and a fake smile. Hence, it is more like a vicious cycle, that is the more you smile, the more you feel good, the more you feel good, the more spontaneously you will smile. Go and look in the mirror and smile and see how good you look.