Your smile can change the world.
Use your smile to change the world;
don’t let the world change your smile.”
5 Ways a Smile Can Change the World
Can a smile change the world?
Yes. And it begins with you. People change the world.
Here’s what smiling does for you.
1. Relieves Stress
Each time you smile, you activate and release feel-good neurotransmitters that relax your body, lowers stress, and can even lower heart rate and blood pressure. These neurotransmitters; dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin, are then released into your body. The endorphins act as a natural pain reliever, and the serotonin lifts your mood.
2. Changes Perceptions
Smiles are not only beautiful; they create joy. Studies show the act of smiling changes the way we perceive the world. “Pretend you are happy, and you will feel happy, pretend that you are angry, and you will feel angry,” concludes one study. Feelings of joy are a consequence of behaviour, they say. “We feel happy because we smile.”
And when our perception changes, our responses to others also change.
“Psychologists at the University of Sussex in England reported that when we smile, we see other people’s frowns as less severe and that when we frown, we see their smiling faces as less happy,” reports New York Magazine.
3. Creates Influencers
When you smile, people treat you differently. You’re viewed as attractive, reliable, relaxed and sincere.
A study published in the journal Neuropsychologia reported that seeing an attractive smiling face makes the recipient of that smile feel rewarded.
Researchers at the Face Research Laboratory at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, rated smiles and attractiveness. Predictably, they found people were attracted to others who made eye contact and smiled more than those who did not.
When you smile, you become an influencer. But did you know that your smile is contagious?
“In a Swedish study, subjects were shown pictures of several emotions: joy, anger, fear and surprise. When the picture of someone smiling was presented, the researchers asked the subjects to frown. Instead, they found that the facial expressions went directly to imitation of what subjects saw. It took a conscious effort to turn that smile upside down. So if you’re smiling at someone, it’s likely they can’t help but smile back,” reports Psychology Today.
4. Contributes to Happiness
“Happiness is about being able to make the most of the good times – but also to cope effectively with the inevitable bad times,” says Mark Williamson for The Guardian.
• Warwick University found those who were influenced to feel happy (see #3 above) were 11% more productive than their peers.
• Warton Business School found companies with “happy” employees outperformed others on the stock market.
• Young adults who are happy earn more money than peers.
• Doctors who are happy make faster and more accurate diagnoses.
• Children who are happy perform better academically and are more creative.
5. Happiness is Contagious
Smiling leads to happiness. And happiness, studies show, increase your productivity, which creates a positive contribution to society.
Studies show one who is happy is more likely to vote, volunteer, participate in the community and respect law and order.
“There is even evidence that happiness is contagious so that happier people help others around them to become happier too. For example, an extensive study in the British Medical Journal followed people over 20 years and found that their happiness affected others in their networks across ‘three degrees of separation. In other words, how happy we are has a measurable impact on the mood of our friend’s friend’s friend,” says Williamson.
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