Smiling is Healthy

Smiling, we smile all the time. We smile when greeting friends, hearing a humorous joke, seeing a child learn something new, and generally when we are happy. But, what really is a smile. Is it our bright, white teeth glimmering in the early morning sun’s outstretched rays of hope? Is it the upturned blush, pink lips framing affection for another?

Dr. David Song, Associate Professor at the University of Chicago Hospitals, stated smiling uses one more muscle than frowning – twelve versus eleven. So, does happiness lurk one step from sadness? The smile is a part of life in all corners of our world. Even though at times hidden by the hustle and bustle of living, smiling continues to remain contagious.

Kinds of Smiles

There are different kinds of smiles. A quick search on the web we discover various articles describing them. The most quoted and famous is the Duchenne smile. Guillaume Duchenne, a French physician studied the physiology of facial expressions in the mid 1800’s. He concluded a genuine smile of emotion raises both the corners of the mouth and raises the cheeks forming a crow’s feet appearance around the eye. All other smiles were non-Duchenne smiles requiring only the raising of the mouth corners. The importance of this with psychology is the distinction of true emotion eliciting more positive responses from someone while enjoying better interpersonal relationships.

But, let’s take a further look at smiling. Again, the web offers much on this. A prominent blog Abundance Tapestry has an article 17 Types of Smiles to Wear: A Guide for all Occasions. Types of smiles range from sweet, thoughtful, happy, to I know it all, up-to-no good, and sexy. This is a fun article to read and gives plenty of food for thought about how and why we smile.

SocyBerty offers another view. Contrasting Dr. Song their article states, “It takes 64 muscles to frown and only 13 muscles of the face are used to smile.” Further, they divide smiling into four types – simple, upper, broad, and oblong. With the simple smile the teeth are unexposed involving more of her/him. The upper smile exposes the upper incisors and is used more during times of greeting where eye contact is important. Usually no eye to eye contact takes place with the broad smile where both the upper and lower incisors are exposed. An example is expressing the joy of a victorious moment like a touchdown. The oblong smile is said to be more of a non-smile offered as a courtesy with lips drawn back from the upper and lower teeth.

Reflection of an Emotion

We all have seen others smile to something we said or did. Identifying a smile becomes second nature. But, what is a smile the reflection of? We know from the Duchenne smile the defining elements are it is genuine and emotion driven. What is that emotion? Even though the scientific community has over 90 definitions for emotion, a simple definition is that it is a response by a whole organism, involving physical arousal, expressive behaviors (the smile), and conscious experience. Generally the smile reflects an act of delight or being pleased. From Plutchik’s circle of emotions Joy seems closest of the eight emotions, which would drive the physical expression smiling.

Joy is described as a basic emotion in this circle. Its opposite is sadness, which may be considered reflected by the frown. Yet, we discover in the outer circle are what Plutchik’s theory refers to as feelings or the results of an emotion. For Joy these are love and optimism.

Smiles are free or are they?

Social change and stability is a process of contrasting cost to benefits between two interacting individuals or parties. Social psychology and sociology refer to this as the Social Exchange Theory. It is the logical side of a relationship. There are several elements that come into play. The amount of effort versus the reward is weighed. How much effort is contributed by the social partner within the interaction. What one feels is deserved from the relationship is another element. Finally, the likely hood it could be found elsewhere or from a different relationship becomes a part of the formula. From this we discover that smiling as a social interaction, does have benefits when received and a cost when elicited.

Health benefits to smiling

According to Dr. Mark Stibich “smiling: 1) Boosts the immune system, 2) Increases positive affect, 3) Reduces stress, 4) Lowers blood pressure 5) Enhances other people’s perception of you. In the article Smile and Others Smile with You: Health Benefits, Emotional Contagion, and Mimicry it is stated “serotonin, dopamine and other “feel-good” indicators are released.” Many of today’s antidepressants aim at the manipulation of these chemicals and the associated neuron receptacles seeking to lift the individual from a depressed state. For instance the deficiency of serotonin, today, is thought to be connected to depression. SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and SNRIs (serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) are believed to reduce symptoms of depression, yet how they work within the brain is not fully understood. Smiling offers these same benefits to some degree.

Wrapping it up

So far we have identified what a smile is. We know what the most likely emotion is that will drive a genuine smile. And, we know in social relationships and interactions an exchange of value takes place. With these three components can we elicit a Duchenne smile and receive a reciprocating emotion – Joy ? Would this have therapeutic value for the both individuals with the Monday blues? Will eliciting a smile set into motion physiological, psychological, and social forces resulting in a powerful remedy for “feeling in the dumps?” Will it open a window to happiness?

Questions come into play. How much effort is required to obtain a genuine smile? Will the genuine smile provide a big enough pay off to provide gratification from the interaction? What would be the point of discontinuing the attempt of eliciting the smile? Will the elicited smile become contagious resulting with reciprocation, thusly both parties receiving a payoff – the associated feelings?

A challenge

Pick a day. Make a resolution you will elicit a smile from everyone you interact with that day. It may be your co-workers, family members, fast food counter person, maybe the individual in front of you in the grocery line, your neighbor, or whomever. Keep a small notebook or make mental notes. Did you elicit a Duchenne smile or maybe just a smile of acknowledgement? How much effort went into it? Did it give you a payoff? And, on a day where you feel the Monday blues and it is Thursday, try eliciting a smile or two. Discover if it is like its cousin “laughter is the best medicine.” Share your findings here at HubPages in the comments below.