How does a smile affect human health? The role of a smile in your life for the fulfillment of desires

Everyone agrees that optimists live longer and at least happier. Many people agree that laughter prolongs life. Although science is still looking for confirmation of these words, the benefits of smiling and laughter have been definitely proven.
They say that a smile suits any face. And this is true, because a smile and laughter endear those around you and make the person himself kinder and more positive. When a person rarely smiles, those around him are afraid to even just approach such a person.
Let's look at the benefits of smiling and laughter, which have already been proven by science.

Medicine against depression.

Depression is called the disease of the 21st century and it is true. Now more than ever, humanity is suffering from many emotional problems and many more diagnoses of depression than in the last century. Depression is caused by stress and a person’s unpreparedness for such stress. Against the background of stress, neurosis can develop, and sleep and biological clock disturbances occur. Often a person starts taking antidepressants without much need, in order to always feel in good shape and on the rise. However, this does not help, but on the contrary aggravates the condition of the body.
When stressed, two hormones are especially produced - adrenaline and cortisone. It has been proven that Smiling and laughing reduce the levels of these hormones during times of stress.

But how to smile during stress? Surprisingly Even an “on duty” smile is enough for the body. That is, it is not necessary to really laugh at something and smile from ear to ear through your tears. A person can simply put a smile on his face and walk around like that at home. The fact is that the muscles involved in smiling will send a signal of positive emotion to the brain and the production of the hormone of happiness, not depression, will begin.

Our body is amazingly designed and we need to use its additional options that can help us.

It has also been proven that a minute of real, healthy laughter and smile

equals 40 minutes of relaxation session.

It turns out that when you laugh, your body relaxes so much! Tension goes away, both muscular, literal and emotional. The benefits of a smile on your face...

Support youthful skin.

Some even deliberately try to smile less because they are afraid of the appearance of facial wrinkles. However, this is not the worst thing that can happen to the face, and the benefits of a smile will cover all the disadvantages that still need to be proven.
But the benefits of smiling have been proven. The hormone of happiness, which, as written above, is released when you smile and laugh, has a positive effect on the condition of the skin. We won’t go into the physiology of the skin, but that’s probably why smiling people look younger and more beautiful than those who don’t smile.

Also muscles involved in smiling create blood flow to the face, to individual parts of the face, delivering vitamins and oxygen and this promotes rejuvenation, as is already clear for modern people.

Immunity is on the rise.

Firstly, the happiness hormone is, in principle, good for health. After all, a good mood makes some illnesses seem less hopeless.
Also, the benefit of smiling and laughter, secondly, is that they increase the content of immunoglobulin A, which helps protect against microorganisms that are constantly in contact with our mucous membranes.
This can be seen even without research.

Optimists suffer less from seasonal colds and even from such serious illnesses as cancer . It’s not for nothing that in many children’s cancer centers, clowns, professional or not, perform for children. They cheer up children and if this turns out to be the missing link in treatment, then the prognosis may change to a more favorable one!

For the heart and blood vessels.

As has been proven and seen in life, people prone to anger and discontent often suffer from high blood pressure and pathologies of the cardiovascular system.
Laughter relaxes a person emotionally, reduces stress accumulation in the body. As a result, the vessels are calmer and are not subject to constant changes in the volume of the bed.
Laughter is also like physical education for the heart.
Surprisingly, the benefits of smiling and laughter are universal. If a person has high blood pressure, then it drops by 10-20 mmHg. pillar And if it’s low, it rises. Arrhythmia even temporarily recedes before a good mood.

Painkiller.

Yes, smiling and laughter act as analgesics. And you have noticed this more than once - if you laugh and forget about the pain for a while, it seems to subside and may even go away. The fact is that while smiling and laughing endorphins are produced, which affect the nervous system as analgesics.
Also, while laughing, a person moves various muscles and this Relieves tension like a massage. And as you know, tension does not provide good blood circulation, and this in turn causes pain. Relieving tension accordingly relieves pain.
The head especially benefits from smiling and laughter.. A headache is very difficult to endure and it is very necessary to take measures to eliminate it as soon as possible. It has been noticed that after laughter, headaches decrease due to the production of endorphins and relaxation of the upper shoulder girdle.

The habit of being optimistic.

Yes, if you try to smile and laugh more often, it will affect your character and you will become a greater optimist. And this will benefit the entire body for the reasons stated above.
If you learn to look at some life situations without taking them too seriously, where it is needed, then this will undoubtedly help you. keep your nerves and health. Even some difficulties can recede if you look at them not as a stumbling block, but as a step to rise higher! You may be surprised, but you can find something positive in almost any situation! You just have to look at the situation from the other side. And over time, you will be able to cope with stress more easily and your level of stress hormone will not rise so sharply and quickly.

Friendship.

Also, smiling people are more likely to maintain friendships and not lose friends. If a person notices the good and kind in people, then there are often the same people around him. They want to communicate with an optimist to get encouragement and support. But when an optimist feels bad, there will always be a grateful person who will support him in turn.
Anything can happen in friendship. For example, the ability to laugh at yourself can come in handy. If a person shows pride and cannot laugh at himself, then this is not beautiful and people avoid close communication with such people.

If a person laughs through life, he will be able to support his friends at the right moment. This will also preserve the friendship.
So, the benefits of smiling and laughter are very, very huge. Perhaps our science does not even fully know all the benefits. Therefore, tune in to developing optimism and you will soon feel the benefits personally!!!

Read useful articles below.

A sincere smile, a catchy laugh, sparkling eyes and a positive attitude - isn’t this what a happy person looks like? Everyone knows that smiling and laughter have undoubted health benefits. We will tell you in today’s article what impact positive emotions have on the human body..

The health benefits of laughter and smiling

In the course of research, American scientists came to the conclusion that certain brain centers are responsible for a positive perception of reality and the general physical health of a person. Stimulation of these zones helps to avoid certain diseases and cure many existing ailments. Laughter acts as a natural activator of brain centers, which reduces the production of adrenaline and cortisone - stress hormones, and provokes the production of happiness hormones - endorphin, dopamine and serotonin.

In the 70s of the last century, Norman Kasis laid the foundation for gelotology, a science that studies the effects of laughter on the human body. Kazis showed by his own example the effectiveness of his technique. The founder of gelotology was suffering from a rare bone disease. The doctors were powerless in this case. As a result, the patient decided to “make death laugh,” and spent days watching nothing but comedies. A month later, the disease subsided and Norman was able to go to work. After a happy cure, scientists began to study this phenomenon. Today we have a wide knowledge base about the benefits of smiling and laughter for the human body.

Experts have proven that laughter:

1. Improves the functioning of the heart and circulatory system. Sincere laughter helps cleanse blood vessels and normalize blood pressure.
2. Improves blood circulation. Improved blood circulation helps normalize the functioning of almost all organs and systems of the body, helps improve skin condition, and slow down the aging process.
3. Improves the functioning of the endocrine system. The proper functioning of the endocrine glands depends on a complete supply of oxygen-enriched blood. Laughter improves blood circulation and helps normalize the functioning of this system.
4. Improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. When we laugh, we tense and relax our abdominal muscles. These actions help massage the internal organs, normalize the functioning of the intestines and stomach, as well as remove harmful toxins from the body.
5. Cleanses the bronchi and lungs. When laughing, a person completely fills his lungs with air, thereby saturating his body with precious oxygen.
6. Fights cancer. Laughter activates the body's protective functions, which inhibit the development of cancer.
7. Strengthens immunity. During laughter, the body gets rid of stress and produces antibodies that allow it to successfully fight infections and allergens.
8. Reduces nervous tension. The production of happiness hormones and the suppression of stress hormones help fight nervous tension and depression.
9. Relaxes the muscles of the back and neck. While laughing, a person gets rid of back and neck pain, which is important for people engaged in sedentary work.
10. Helps improve sleep. Laughter eliminates negative emotions, helps you relax and get rid of gloomy thoughts.

Doctors also advise smiling more, because... smile:

1. Helps maintain youthful skin. When facial muscles work, blood flow increases, which delivers oxygen and nutrients to the epidermis.
2. Improves brain function. The secret is in the same increase in blood flow.
3. Makes you happy. A smile is a sign of happiness that can be shared and make people around you happy. Positive emotions make us more attractive, which helps us achieve success in our careers and personal relationships.

Some scientists believe that laughter is a drug that causes long-term euphoria, helps a person stay healthy and be happy. Smile, have fun, laugh, give others positive emotions, then you can forget about stress and live a healthy, fulfilling life.

On a bright sunny day, every first Friday in October, World Smile Day is celebrated!

The British call this day World Smile Day. The founder of this holiday was the artist Harvey Bell, who was asked by agents of an insurance company to come up with a memorable and original logo for their company.

The artist, without thinking twice, decided to simply draw a yellow smiling face. And, as you know, everything ingenious is simple! Now this yellow grimace is known to us as a “smiley” and conveys all human feelings and emotions.

Funny faces went around the whole world! And Bell was in seventh heaven with happiness and such luck and madly enjoyed his popularity!

Is it really possible that just a smiling face can bring so much happiness, joy and pleasure?!

Looking at the faces of my classmates, I wondered why some guys are cheerful, everything works out for them, and if it doesn’t work out, then they easily overcome difficulties with a smile, while others, on the contrary, are sad? I decided to conduct my first research work on the topic “The influence of a smile on a person.”

In my work, I have determined the following goal - to study how a smile affects success at school and friendly relations with classmates.

I want to see if smiling actually improves friendships, improves health, and enhances cognitive processes.

1. “The ability to smile is a science and an art!”

A smile is an important means of communication. Smiling is a way to show others that everything is going well and that you are happy to see them. In special studies, for example, it was revealed that if salespeople smile at customers, then sales in stores increase by 20%. A smiling face is more likely to endear you and resolve possible quarrels more successfully than a gloomy and withdrawn face.

Scientists and poets have written about a smile and its magical power to influence others.

In the Explanatory Dictionary of the “Living Great Russian Language”, Vladimir Ivanovich Dal reveals to us the meaning of the word: - A smile is a facial expression, lips or eyes, showing a disposition to laugh or expressing greetings, pleasure or irony, ridicule.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy wrote about a smile like this: “In one smile lies what is called the beauty of faces.”

I share the opinion of Vladimir Levi (musician, doctor and psychologist), who advises: “you don’t need to build a smile for anyone on purpose - smile for yourself: only a genuine smile coming from within has a good effect on other people.”

The whole secret is that smiling people convey their good mood to their friend, creating a trusting relationship. You can smile when greeting, shake hands. And there is another win-win option - smile with your eyes.

Dale Carnegie was one of the first to professionally talk about the role of a smile in the communication process. In his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, he said: “SMILE! A smile is disarming!”

Looking at the paintings of famous artists of the past, we note that the faces of many women in portraits have a mysterious or gentle smile, full of charm and charm. Famous artists and sculptors, poets and composers composed hymns in the name of a smile, and worked for years on how to reflect this smile.

They still can’t unravel the mystery of Gioconda’s mysterious smile, which has an almost magical effect on viewers.

And what about Gagarin’s famous smile, which spread all over the world and became a symbol of friendship between peoples, uniting and uniting everyone?!

And today we are captivated by people whose faces light up with a smile.

Look at the leaders of the world's largest powers, at the heads of large enterprises. They have their own smile. People in all walks of life make their smile so powerful and charming that when it appears on their face, the whole world smiles along with them. Successful people know that their smile is one of their most powerful influence tools, so they carefully tune this tool for maximum effect.

According to scientific research, Russians smile less than Americans. This is due to our historical upbringing. Even our sayings regarding smiling confirm this: “Laughter without a reason is a sign of a fool”, “mouth to ear - even sewn strings.”

Smiling in America is a job requirement. Those who do not want and cannot smile often lose their jobs. It would be nice to make smiling a law of life in our country too. How much health and happiness this would bring to all people.

I think that, first of all, a teacher has no right to enter the classroom without a smile. It’s no secret that love for a subject comes through love for the teacher.

A smile adorns everyone without exception. Every smile should be based on a friendly attitude towards people. A real smile comes from the heart.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of a smile for our health. Humor, jokes, jokes, laughter are simply irreplaceable in our lives. This is the basis of our health. There is no need to lose your ability to humor even in the most difficult situations.

When smiling, muscles are involved that are associated with the diaphragm, and therefore with the breathing process. And, as you know, breathing is an essential condition of our life. Good breathing, that is, a well-functioning diaphragm, moves the facial muscles to smile. It is easy to trace the connection between a smile, mood and good health.

“Smile at today, and it will smile at you!”

2. Experimental part

1. Method “Color of Emotions”

Goal: Studying human emotions using color. I asked each classmate to draw a picture using one colored pencil.

17. students (64%) were able to clearly determine the color of their mood:

Red – a friendly, sociable, self-confident person (6 people);

Blue – a conscientious, calm and reasonable person (4 people);

Green – an independent person, persistent, but stubborn (2 people);

Yellow – very active, open, sociable and cheerful (3 people);

Violet – a restless and emotionally tense person (2 people).

But, 10 people (36%) were unable to correlate their mood and color, and used 2 or more colored pencils. Most of all, students combined yellow, red and violet (blue) - which means sociability, openness, friendliness, but there is a need for emotional contact (5 people). The guys also combined yellow and green (3 people), which speaks of hard work, energy, but excessive fussiness. There was also a brown color in the drawings (2 people), meaning laziness, passivity and weakness. It is pleasing to see the absence of black and gray colors, which characterize the student as insecure, indifferent and angry towards others.

Conclusion: The results obtained indicate that about 80% of the guys are sociable, friendly and open, but about 20% are silent, emotionally restless or tense.

2. Methodology “Leader and Outsider”

Purpose: To study the influence of a smile on friendly relations in a team. I suggested that each student “invite” one classmate to his birthday, then another, and another. In total, everyone could invite three classmates.

Conclusion: Through this choice, a group of leaders (highlighted in red) and a group of outsiders (in blue) of friendly communication were formed. Children are attracted to leaders who are cheerful and open to communication.

3. Methodology “Connection between smiling and studying”

Purpose: To study the effect of smiling on enhancing cognitive processes. The teacher helped me prepare a number of logical problems and questions for my classmates on the “General” development course. At the beginning of the work, the children were asked to draw a “face”, one that showed in what mood they were starting to work.

Conclusion: The guys who started the task in a bad or sad mood did not cope with the work (15%), they scored the lowest number of points, 8 out of 16. The guys who worked in a joyful or calm mood coped with the tasks, with 10 people scoring high number of points, 13 – average.

4. Testing

Purpose: To investigate whether smiling affects friendship, health and academic success.

1. Do you like studying?

2. Do you smile often?

3. Is it difficult for you to study?

Conclusion: Based on the results presented, I concluded that the success of the children very much depends on a good mood, on a smile. With a smile, children overcome difficulties easier.

4. Does smiling affect your health?

5. Does smiling affect friendship?

6. Do you like the team?

Conclusion: Most of the guys noted that friendship begins with a smile and very much depends on a good mood. A friendly team is formed where children smile more often. And the connection between a smile and health is undeniable; a physically and psychologically healthy child’s face lights up with a smile.

Based on the work I have done, I can confidently draw the following conclusion.

He who can oppose himself to troubles and sorrows with a calm smile will always win victory over himself and his ill-wishers. Maintaining mental balance, self-control, good mood, good health, self-confidence and charm are indispensable helpers in life.

Periodically check that there is a smile on your face, and this will help maintain your friendship, health and success in your studies!

To paraphrase a well-known phrase, one can say: “If you want to have good health, many friends and achieve success in life, SMILE more often!”

Can a smile change you and your life? Undoubtedly it can! But can it affect your physical health and your professional activities? Of course she can! After all, this is not just the work of facial muscles. A smile is the light of your soul, which can illuminate everything and everyone who is in its aura, which means attracting positive people to you, and positive events into your life.

The influence of a smile on human health.

It's hard to believe that a smile can directly affect your physical health. But it is difficult to argue that a smile can improve mood, which means that the human body begins to produce hormones such as serotonin (mood hormone), endorphins (joy hormones), dopamine (pleasure hormone). These hormones can influence not only a person’s emotional state, but also his physical state.

Many experts claim that smiling can directly affect a person's immune system, blood pressure, cardiovascular system, stress levels and even life expectancy! Studies have shown that smiling people live longer, have stronger immune systems, and are less susceptible to stress and anxiety.

Research conducted at the University of Kansas has shown that the act of smiling has a positive effect on a person's heart function. A smile and a state of happiness help the heart recover faster from stressful situations and also slow down the heartbeat.

Scientists conducted an experiment in which 170 American students participated, whom they divided into three groups. In the first group, students had to smile naturally during the experiment. This type of smile usually involves the muscles not only around the lips, but also the eye muscles.

In the second group, students were forced to smile an artificial smile, in which the eyes had no expression. To help them, they were offered Chinese chopsticks, which they held between their teeth. And the third group had a neutral expression.

The students were then asked to complete a difficult task using their non-dominant hand, and an unpleasant buzzing sound was heard if they made any mistakes. Scientists noted changes in students' heart rates while performing a complex task. And after the experiment, we asked the students how well they felt before and after it.

The researchers noticed that after the experiment, the heart rate recovered much faster and even decreased in the first test group, which suggests that smiling, positive people recover faster from stress, and, as a rule, they maintain good health longer.

As for the emotional state during the test, the first two groups reported that their mood did not worsen during and after the tests, but in the third group with a neutral facial expression, subjects reported a significant deterioration in mood and signs of stress.

From this entire study, we can conclude that even an artificially maintained smile has a positive effect on human health. But it is still worth noting that a real, sincere smile is more effective in all respects.

11 reasons to start smiling.

Smiling lifts your spirits and creates a feeling of well-being. As psychologist Sarah Stevenson says, “Every time you smile, you give your brain a good feeling.” This is connected, as we have already written, with the production of joy hormones - endorphins, dopamine and serotonin. And by the way, endorphins serve as a natural pain reliever and act as the body's own opiates.

Even a forced smile can improve your mood. As Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” In other words, a happy facial expression can make you feel happier.

Smiling can help attract positive people into your life and even your future spouse. Since like attracts like, there is a guarantee that your family relationships will also develop positively. By the way, a study was conducted that examined childhood photographs of several adult women. The girls who smiled in childhood got married successfully and were happy in their marriage. And this is quite understandable. It is easier to live and solve any life problems with a cheerful person. And this is true, because who would want to live with a dull person, considering that marriage is for a long time?

A person's smile can predict his life expectancy. A Wayne State University research project in 2010 examined old baseball cards with photographs of baseball players. It turned out that those who were not smiling in the photo lived an average of 72.9 years, while the smiling players lived on average almost 80 years. It turns out that at least a smile is worth 7 years of life!

A smile is contagious! A smile is like the ripple effect of a pebble thrown into a pond. This effect will extend beyond your family, your friends and your community. This will help you win the love, friendship and respect of other people. Therefore, when entering any room, just smile. Your smile will definitely cause a backlash in the people around you, which means it will help someone become a little happier.

Smiling will help you look younger. Even if there were no other benefits to smiling, many of us would be grateful for this alone. If you consider that a smile is the work of facial muscles, then by smiling you are doing a kind of mini-facelift, thanks to which you can reduce the double chin and generally improve the relief of your face. So maybe you should smile more often instead of going to a cosmetologist?

People around him perceive a smiling person as younger than his true age. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Kansas City gave university students photographs of older people and tasked them with determining their age. It turned out that the students identified as younger those people who had happy smiles on their faces in the photograph. Students identified people with gloomy faces as older.

Your smile not only affects how people treat you, but it is also a great way to express your love, appreciation and respect to those who are important to you.

Smiling will help you appear polite, likable, and competent. You might say that if the first two qualities seem logical, then what does smiling have to do with competence? Everything is very simple. If you appear sad or anxious while doing your job, others may wonder if you even know what you're doing.

If you are doing business, then remember that a friendly facial expression and smile will contribute to greater trust in you and your partners will be more inclined to do business with you.

If you aspire to become a leader, learn how to attract and win people over. And without a smile this cannot be achieved. Only a friendly attitude towards people can attract people like you and who trust you into your team.

What is the importance of a smile for business development?

The last two paragraphs of the previous chapter have already partially answered this question. But if your business is specifically about customer service, then here are 4 reasons why every service should start with a smile:

A smile is more than just a facial expression. It conveys your state of mind. Smiling—or even feeling smiling when serving customers over the phone—may be the most important part of business transactions. In retail, a smile can influence people's perception of the product on offer and increase customer satisfaction.

A smile is like a reflection of an idea, which is a confirmation of the commitments undertaken by this organization. It helps to build client trust both in the organization itself and in the goods or services it offers. Moreover, a smile should begin before you begin to interact with your clients and, of course, not end immediately after the transaction is completed.

A smile is an attitude, it is a personal contact with each client. It is your smile that will help form your client’s first impressions of you. Despite the fact that a smile cannot solve all problems, it can be one of the factors that helps solve these problems. Your smile can become a competitive advantage.

A smile sets the tone and establishes rapport between you and your business partner and initiates trust, which is the cornerstone of all business relationships.

How and when should you not smile?

While smiling is undoubtedly good for your emotional and physical health, keep the following points in mind:

Sometimes smiling can be harmful. Trying to avoid negative emotions with an artificial smile or laughter, we can harm ourselves by pushing the problem inside. Every emotion is given to a person for a reason. It must be experienced and released in order to reach a higher level of development.

An artificial smile can cause a negative reaction from others. If you don't smile sincerely, people can easily tell that your smile is fake. Therefore, try to do it naturally, then people will perceive you accordingly. Just find your inner reservoir of happiness and use it.

Sometimes a smile is inappropriate. If you want to cheer yourself up at a time when people around you are in trouble, this will only cause misunderstanding and negative emotions in them towards you. Empathy would be much more appropriate in this situation.

Sometimes there are forced and even forced smiles that will never bring health and happiness. For example, if a person is being sexually assaulted and the perpetrator threatens to demand a happy expression. Such a smile can only increase stress and cause even greater negative consequences.

You should not smile in cases where you would be better off going to the dentist first. But in this case, you can smile when you are alone, then you will not bring aesthetic suffering to a stranger with your smile.

And finally, a few tips:

When someone smiles at you, smile back. Thanks to this, it will be easier for you to find mutual understanding with people.

Smile while talking on the phone. People can't see your facial expression, but they can clearly hear the difference in your voice when you smile. This makes a good impression on the interlocutor.

Smiling makes others feel welcome, special and valued. So, when you are with your friends, family or colleagues, watch your facial expressions.

Think about something positive and your smile will become more natural.

Be the first to smile when entering a room or office.

From all of the above, we can conclude that by making a smile an integral part of your life, you can achieve serious changes in the social and business sphere, as well as maintain your physical health given to you by nature.

A smile is not just a sign of a good mood and pleasure. For others, it can also be a signal of our goodwill, express regret, or attract people to us. Ten reasons why smiling is better than frowning.

So, smiling helps...

1. Inspire the trust of others

In a world where it's every man for himself, who do we trust? For example, those who smile. They send us a signal that we can rely on them and do business with them. It is believed that such people are happy to share anything with others - and, according to financiers, they also inspire generosity. According to a study by economist Jorn Scharlemann, smiling increases confidence by 10%. For example, After seeing a photo of a smiling partner, people are more willing to enter into financial transactions.

2. Making amends for our mistakes

Forgot to buy a gift for the anniversary of meeting your loved one? Has the name of an important client or partner slipped your mind? Accidentally stepped on a small child's foot? As a rule, in such situations we smile embarrassedly, lower our eyes, and sometimes let out a stupid laugh. This reaction on our part creates a sense of camaraderie among others, which helps them more easily forgive our minor mistakes (and sometimes serious offenses).

3. Feel better

Sometimes a smile is a sign of politeness. And if we don’t show it, we risk regretting it. For example, if your friend suddenly discovers a discount coupon for a small amount and is very happy, you are unlikely to be able to fully share his feelings. But you will still smile, simply because it is polite.

Boston College specialist Marianne LaFrance conducted an experiment: she asked participants to listen to other people's good news with straight faces. As it turned out, such behavior causes a feeling of discomfort: it makes people worry that they give the impression of someone who does not know how to be happy for others. By the way, women worry more about this.

4. Forget about disappointments

In psychology there is the so-called feedback hypothesis. Its essence is as follows: just as emotions affect our facial expressions, so too do facial expressions affect our emotions. And this means that Sometimes just smiling is enough to lift your spirits and make you feel happier. Although, as you understand, not under all circumstances a smile may be appropriate and correctly interpreted by others.

5. Get to the heart of things

When we are nervous, we become less attentive, see only what is happening right in front of us, and notice ideas only in the center of our consciousness. But often the solution to the problem is located just on its periphery.

Smile. This will help you not only feel better, but also be more alert and think more holistically. What is called see the forest, not the trees. The study showed that those participants who smiled before the test performed better on attention tasks.

6. Look attractive

A woman's smile has a magical effect on members of the opposite sex. According to research conducted by Debra G. Walsh and Jay Hewitt, when a woman makes eye contact with a man, she is approached 20% of the time. When she also smiles, she arouses interest in 60% of cases.

That is A smile makes a woman more attractive in the eyes of men. But whether this rule works in the opposite direction is a big question. According to some experts, the less a man smiles, the more masculine he seems. Sometimes ladies are more attracted not by a happy smile, but by an undisguised feeling of pride or even shame.

7. Hiding our thoughts

Sometimes, with the help of a smile, we try to hide our sad thoughts, unhappy mood, or that we are unpleasant about the interlocutor and/or the topic of conversation. Most psychologists are convinced: a sincere smile never lies. How to recognize it? It is generally accepted that with a fake smile, only the corners of the mouth are “involved,” and with a real one, which is commonly called a Duchenne smile, the corners of the eyes are also “involved” (although some studies cast doubt on the fact that it cannot be “fake”). Another sign of sincerity is if a person breaks out into a smile, and does not “put on” it instantly. In addition, a “slow” smile inspires more confidence and appears more attractive.

8. Make money

Research by economists has already been mentioned above, who estimated a smile as a plus 10% to trust. But is it possible to feel its advantage in monetary terms? According to Kathi Tidd and Joan Lockard, quite: back in 1978 they discovered that Smiling waitresses get more tips.

In general, the service sector (hotel business, restaurant business, air travel, entertainment) requires employees to display certain emotions when communicating with customers. Psychologists call this “emotional labor” and warn that by regularly pretending to feel feelings that you don’t actually feel at that moment, you are paving a direct path to burnout.

9. Make the whole world smile

Everyone has heard the expression: “Smile, and the whole world will smile with you.” Cry and you will cry alone.” Obviously, “the whole world” is an exaggeration, but as research by Verlin B. Hinsz and Judith A. Tomhave showed a quarter of a century ago, the phrase is not without meaning: 50% of the “test subjects” responded with a smile. But almost no one frowned in response.

10. Live longer

If none of the studies mentioned make you smile, consider the fact that it prolongs life. Here's proof: in 1952, a baseball team was photographed. The smiling athletes in the photo outlived their comrades by an average of seven years. Isn't this a reason to smile?

Prepared by Maria Ishchenko, psychologies.ru

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