Say Cheese!

Imagine two faces. One face, full of enthusiasm and a beautiful smile. Another, a sorrowful one, glum hanging over it. Whom would you prefer to be friends with, if you are given the option of choosing a friend from those two? Most of us would surely choose that person with a smiling face for the purpose of friendship. Isn’t it?

It’s because a smiling person is considered to be more friendly and respectable than the person who doesn’t smile. The people who smile often are thought to be happier, successful and more confident. In comparison to others they get promoted easily and seem to be more approachable. According to a study conducted by a group of economists, being happy can actually affect someone’s productivity positively. Some other studies suggest that there is a link between happiness and the job performance of a person. In the state of happiness the release of dopamine is triggered inside the brain. So a happy person with a smiling face can do wonders in the field of decision-making, processing and learning. Therefore it is commonly said that ‘happy in the face, boss in the workplace’.

A beautiful smile not only enhances one’s face value but it also has many health benefits.

Smiling acts as an immune booster. It makes us feel happy, content and relaxed. And helps us in staying positive. By smiling our brain releases neurotransmitters such as endorphin and serotonin which act as natural painkillers and make us feel good(through the whole body). This in turn boosts our mood and relaxes body ache. And by that our immune system functions more effectively, that helps us to live longer.

In relieving stress too smiling plays an important role. According to experts, even if you are in a bad mood and don’t feel like smiling; try to fake a smile on your lips. It may actually help you in feeling a bit happier. Research establishes the fact that smiling can enhance the ability of managing stress in a better way. It not only prevents someone from looking tired and exhausted but it also reduces the level of stress as well as blood pressure. A smile triggers the release of neuropeptides which helps in improving neural communication inside the human body that helps in the improvement of one’s mood. So we can call smiling a natural antidepressant.

A person who has a smiling face looks more attractive and youthful. People tend to get drawn to them easily and think that those people have positive trends in their nature. Along with this the facial muscles used in smiling help in the facelift of a person that makes her/him look younger.

Smiling creates a ‘ripple effect.’ When a person smiles genuinely the people around her/him may automatically feel happier. According to a Swedish study, we can’t help but react with a smile of our own when we see someone smiling near us. Because the reward center of our brain gets activated when we see a smiling face. It’s called the infectious loop of happiness and for this reason, a smile is considered contagious (ofcourse in a positive way).

In researchers’ opinion, primarily there are three types of smile. The smiles suggesting someone’s approval, joy, satisfaction or any other positive feelings are called the Smiles of Reward. Similarly the smiles having the power of conveying kindness, good intention, faithfulness, familiarity and personal or social connections are known as the Smiles of Affiliation. These two are the smiles that convey positive and beautiful feelings of a person. But there are those type of smiles that show disapproval, disgust, contempt and superiority of a person. These smiles are known as the smiles of dominance. Unlike the smiles having positive intention, these smiles help in increasing the level of cortisol or stress hormones in a person.

Despite the presence of this ill-intentioned smile, we can’t nullify the importance of a smile in our lives. Let’s forget about such evil smiles and not even call these smiles the real ‘smiles’. When we add genuine and healthy smiles and grins to our lives, we help this world to become happier and beautiful. So at last we can say, you can put a smile on your lips more often and even if you are not posing for a photograph right now but you can still cheer yourself up for a beautiful smile by telling yourself, “Say cheese.”