It has been scientifically proven that smiling is one of the simplest and most impactful gestures that one can make. When we smile, it sends signals to our brain to release happy hormones and when we release happy hormones we smile; this is quite a powerful loop. Our childhood selves smiled an average of 400 times a day. As adults, we smile around 20 times a day. Maybe it’s time to reconnect with that contagious ear-to-ear smile we wore almost constantly as five years old.
Our smile has the power to influence our mental and physical health. It has been proven that smiling is linked to reducing stress and cortisol levels, lessening anxiety, strengthening the immune system, decreasing high blood pressure, and even increasing longevity. Frequent smiling also helps to improve mood, boost creativity, increase productivity, improve appearance, and even make you look younger. The best thing about a smile is that it is completely free and belongs 100% to you for the entirety of your life!
On top of all of these positive consequences that follow a smile, your smile actually has the power to help make the world a better place. A smile is contagious. It is rare that you can smile at someone or they can smile at you and a mimicked smile is not returned. Smiling is something that all humans, regardless of age, gender, color, race, religion, or sexual identity, share. It is a completely universal symbol that knows no boundaries. Just think if smiling is so good for us, then it is equally as good for others.
If we all smiled a little bit more, we would all be a little bit healthier, less stressed, and perhaps even a lot happier. The world needs a whole lot of smiles right now and each and every one of us has the innate ability to share one. This movement of sharing smiles has the potential to cross lands, seas, and cultures. Your smile can be the smile that starts the chain to a smile shared on the other side of the world!
Try one out today!
"Be thou rainbow in the storms of life, the evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tint tomorrow with prophetic rays." Lord Bryon