Add a smile to your life

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

It’s because a smiling person is considered to be more friendly and respectable than someone who doesn't smile. People who smile often are thought to be happier, more 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 affect someone’s productivity positively. Some other studies suggest that there is a link between happiness and a person's job performance. In a 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 fields of decision-making, processing, and learning. Therefore, it is commonly said that ‘happy in the face, the boss in the workplace’.

A beautiful smile not only enhances one's face value but also has many health benefits.
Smiling acts as an immune booster. It makes us feel happy, content, and relaxed. And helps us stay 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 aches. And by doing so, our immune system functions more effectively, which helps us live longer.

In relieving stress, 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 help you feel a bit happier. Research establishes the fact that smiling can enhance the ability to manage 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 help improve neural communication inside the human body and improve 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, which makes her or him look younger.

Smiling creates a ‘ripple effect.’ When a person smiles genuinely, the people around her or 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 (of course, in a positive way).

In researchers' opinion, there are primarily three types of smiles. The smiles suggesting someone’s approval, joy, satisfaction, or any other positive feelings are called the smiles of reward. Similarly, smiles that have the power to convey kindness, good intentions, 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 in a person. But there are those types of smiles that show disapproval, disgust, contempt, and the superiority of a person. These smiles are known as the smiles of dominance. Unlike smiles with positive intentions, these smiles help increase the level of cortisol, or stress hormone, in a person.

Despite the presence of this ill-intentioned smile, we can't negate 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 become happier and more beautiful.