The Power of Smiling

We, as a culture, spend trillions (yes, trillions) of dollars every year to look and feel better. Buying supplements, joining gyms, going to the doctor and taking prescription medicines, it all adds up fast.

But what if there were one, simple, free thing you could do each day to influence how you feel and how people interact with you?

It’s no secret that smiling influences relationships, establishes silent connections and is the universal greeting. Authentic smiles make you more attractive, decreases stress levels and increases confidence. Smiles can literally change your life in multiple ways.

 

Your Health:

 

Lowers Heart Rate: Authentic smiles slow your heart rate down and relax your body. Studies show that people who smile more often are less likely to develop heart disease.

 

Reduces Stress and Improves Mood: When you smile, small amounts of endorphins are released. These endorphins counteract and diminish stress hormones, as well as lift your mood.

 

Longevity: Going past a smile making you look more appealing, people who smile more live, on average, 7 years longer than most.

 

Boosts Immune System: Just as smiles help lower your heart rate, it also allows your body to relax, letting the immune system react more quickly and effectively against invaders.

 

Your Relationships:

 

Creates Empathy: Our first response to being caught in an embarrassing or questionable moment is to smile. The instinct breaks the ice and promotes leniency in how others relate to us and navigate the path moving out of that awkward moment.

 

Is Contagious In Nature: Have you ever smiled at someone, and they didn’t smile back? Okay – maybe you have. But none the less, smiles are contagious in all the right ways. Throwing out some friendly grins will typically come back to you several times over.

 

Builds Attraction: Not only does the act of smiling make you more attractive, but it helps open up the opportunity for social interactions, both romantic or platonic.

 

Your Work:

 

Enhances Productivity: You know the “whistle while you work” mentality? Well it seems there is some truth (and more importantly, evidence) to how smiling actually increases productivity and helps teams stay motivated.

 

Increases Attention Span: Since we know smiles reduce stress, we can also correlate that to improving attention span. When we are overly stressed, we find that our perceptions are limited and our attention is narrowed. Our fight or flight modes take over, allowing us to only concentrate on one of those things. Smiling helps us widen our collaborative approach by limiting stress, allowing us to open up for constructive thoughts and collaborative tasks.

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