Smiling Reduces Body’s Stress Response Intensity

New study demonstrates that smiling has real health-relevant benefits, particularly because it acts as a panacea for stressful life events.

Psychological scientists Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman of the University of Kansas studied the potential benefits of smiling to find if it can aid the human to recover from episodes of stress.

For their analysis, the researchers focused on two main types of smiling, ‘standard’ smile which moves only the muscles of the mouth and ‘genuine’ smile that moves the muscles of both the mouth and the eyes.

During the training phase, participants were divided into three groups, and each group was trained to hold a different facial expression. The volunteers were instructed to hold chopsticks in their mouths in such a way that facial muscles would create various smiles.

Thereafter, they were exposed to multitasking activities that were designed to stress them out. During this time, the researchers observed their physical reactions, measured their heart rate, and self-reported stress levels.

“Age old adages, such as ‘grin and bear it’ have suggested smiling to be not only an important nonverbal indicator of happiness but also wishfully promotes smiling as a panacea for life’s stressful events,” said Kraft.

The results proved that smiling during brief stressful activities could help reduce the intensity of the body’s stress response, regardless of whether a person actually feels happy or not.

Presstv