Think Happy Thoughts: Improving Your Health One Smile at A Time

By: Aloha Borah

Smiling can reduce stress, improve your day, and can help you appear more attractive. Smiling can also lead to laughter which helps boost your immune system, and help bring depression relief. So think Happy Thoughts.

There is a song that sums up how a smile is a necessary necessity in one phrase, “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile”. This song has been reprised for the 2014 version of the “Annie” movie. If you think about it, we wear shoes to protect our feet and wearing jackets keeps us warm. But if we put on a smile our whole day can become brighter. A person who smiles is perceived to have more confidence, and is generally more approachable. Even if you are having a bad day, forcing a smile can help improve your mood. In Stamford, CT at a licensed private practice marriage and family therapy center, Dr. Vanessa Reda has sessions that use smiling as the main was to improve the client’s mood. Reda says “People overwhelmingly report a more positive mood through the experience. There’s a tremendous body/mind connection, making smiling an excellent coping and self-soothing technique.” (Scribner) Here is a video by Infotainment that gives a few more interesting facts about smiles.

Smiles are contagious, and one contagious smile can cause contagious laughter. Both laughter and smiles can boost your immune system. A study lead by Keiko Hayashi, of the University of Tsukuba, Japan shows that laughter can reduce glucose levels in type 1 and 2 diabetics. (Grisham)  Try watching this video of a person laughing. Can you make it to the end without laughing, or is it to contagious to resist?

Grisham, Caitlyn. Laughter could lower blood glucose levels! 17 July 2012. web site. 22 September 2017. <http://www.informationaboutdiabetes.com/articles/diabetes/laughter-could-lower-blood-glucose-levels>.

Scribner, Cari. Even a Fake Smile Can Boost Your Mood. 7 August 2013. web site. 22 September 2017. <http://www.ctpost.com/healthyyou/home/article/Even-a-Fake-Smile-Can-Boost-Your-Mood-4621347.php>.

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