Want to improve your mood and your health? Smile more often, experts suggest

Researchers say that reminding yourself to smile more often can make you feel better, but that doesn’t mean you have to watch something funny or search for humor around you. 

Big picture view:

Experts point to research they say backs up the fact that a smile can go a long way. Even just making the physical change of smiling can still affect your emotions, even if you feel you have little to smile about at a given moment. 

What they're saying:

Dr. Judy Ho, a Los Angeles-based clinical and forensic neuropsychologist, told the Associated Press that she discusses smiling as a coping strategy with some of her patients who struggle with depression or anxiety. 

"I'm not suggesting that that's the only way they can fix things," Ho, who also teaches at Pepperdine University, said. "It's just like another thing that you can add to your toolbox."

‘A medicating effect’

Smiling can increase the level of cortisol in the brain. Ho says cortisol is a hormone the body releases partly to help regulate stress and mood.

Smiling can affect endorphins, dopamine and serotonin, chemicals in the brain associated with positive feelings. 

"People who smile during stressful tasks generally demonstrated lower heart rates during recovery than those maintaining neutral expressions," Ho said. "Smiling also reduced aspects of the body's physiological stress response."

If you smile often enough, whether you feel like it or not, you may start feeling more like it, she said. 

"In some ways it's like a mediating effect," Ho said. 

Dig deeper:

A report from Walden University repeats the notion that you feel better when you smile and suggests it may even take the edge off pain. They point to experiments at the University of California at Irvine involving 57 subjects who submerged their hands in "painfully cold water." About 37% of them smiled at some point during the experience, and researchers found that those people maintained lower heart rates and reported more positive emotions as they recovered. 

Older research dating back to the 1980s involved researchers having subjects put a pencil between their lips and either smile or frown while viewing a positive movie clip like a cartoon. 

Stanford University psychology professor Jeanne Tsai said some of the subjects who smiled would feel the sensation of the smile more and be more amused by what they were watching. 

"When we’ve done that demonstration in classes, it works," Tsai said. "When you’re doing it in a room by yourself, you’re not doing it in a social interaction, maybe it’s making you remember, or it’s an effect of remembering some good thing that happened and that would put you in a better mood."

Smiling 101

The Orange County Academy of Sciences and Arts in Southern California takes "the power of a smile" very seriously, according to a section on the school’s website. 

"We believe that a simple smile can set the tone for a positive and engaging day of learning. Our teachers and staff make it a priority to ensure that every child feels seen, heard, and excited to embark on their educational journey," the school’s website states. "Smiling creates a supportive classroom culture that makes students relaxed, active, and motivated. It increases emotional well-being, lowers stress, and gives students confidence. A positive school culture inspires kindness, cooperation, and energy, which leads to improved grades and closer relationships."

It also states that smiles are "a gateway to friendships." 

"I’ve always believed in wanting school to be a happy place for kids," OCASA Capistrano Elementary School Principal RaNae Posey told the AP. "To actually help them form habits of looking at the bright side of things."

The other side:

But when the idea of "smiling more" becomes pushed — or worse, forced — that can cross some uncomfortable lines. Some women, for example, have pushed back against a perceived standard that they should smile more often in the workplace when men don’t fall under the same expectation. 

Some people of color may feel stereotyped as "cold" or "unapproachable" if they don’t smile enough. 

Nicholas Coles, an assistant professor who runs the Social Science Collaboratory at the University of Florida in Gainesville, said people want to feel that they have "emotional autonomy" and that they mandated smiling can do more harm. 

"In those scenarios, what we find is that it’s more that you’re smiling your way to misery," Coles said. "It’s only when it feels authentic and voluntary that I think it’ll have any real effect."

 

HealthU.S.