The power of a smile

I love smiling, I do it all the time – to my patients and colleagues, to strangers, with my children, on my own in the car. It is one of the most powerful tools I have to connect with my patients, young and old, and help them feel better in periods of distress and pain. Even in the most harrowing of consultations a smile is essential and can communicate so much which can’t be said in words. We feel the positive effects of smiling every day but how and why is it so good for us?

Smiling is important from the moment we are born. If babies aren’t exposed to smiling their global development is significantly impaired. The very first milestone we check for in the long and complex journey of child development is the smile which develops at 6 weeks – a human being’s very first learned skill. Studies show that smiles are key to social cohesion and interaction. We are more attracted to smiling faces than stern ones, and this overrides effects of age, gender and race that tend to influence our initial attraction and openness to others. If we smile, people see us as more attractive, reliable, relaxed and sincere. Seeing a smiling face activates your orbitofrontal cortex, the region in your brain processing sensory rewards, suggesting that a smile actually feels like a reward.

So seeing others smile makes us feel good, but I know when I smile it makes ME happy. Darwin was one of the first to detail the ‘Facial Feedback Hypothesis’, which described the fact that if you physically express your emotion, it intensifies that emotion i.e. the action of smiling makes you even happier. Smiling can also have very real and measurable effects on your physical health, as every time you smile the physical action signals the release of dopamine, endorphins and serotonin. These hormones are related to lowered blood pressure and heart rate, reduced stress and all the health problems that come hand in hand with that: they are natural painkillers and aid relaxation. This explains the strong link between positive happy emotions and frequency of smiling, with higher life expectancy overall, quicker recovery from illness and lower risk of diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. It can also moderate the effect of chronic illnesses like arthritis. A study found that social laughter increases your pain threshold, creating a higher pain tolerance.

The fascinating thing is that the body doesn’t seem to know the difference between a real and a ‘fake’ smile – so you can literally smile yourself to healthiness and happiness – and what’s more, smiling is infectious. The part of your brain responsible for your facial expression of smiling when happy or mimicking another person’s smile, is located in the cingulate cortex, an unconscious automatic response area. If you beam at someone, about 50% will automatically smile back, hence spreading the positive effects of your smile. We can all benefit from smiling more – a free drug that makes us and those around us healthier and happier, with no side effects - there is no reason not to! Some suggestions on how to get those extra smiles into the day are:

1. Smile as soon as you wake up
2. Remind yourself in the morning that you’re going to smile more today
3. Have a ‘smile buddy’ - someone else who is actively trying to smile more, or someone who naturally smiles frequently, and spur each other on
4. Seek out happy, positive experiences, like watching a comedy, looking through old photos of happy events, meeting up with good friends
5. Create cues to smile (remember a ‘fake’ smile is still beneficial) for example every time you stop at traffic lights, or set a reminder on your phone.
6. Indiscriminately smile at strangers – perhaps some will become friends!

And if all that hasn’t convinced you smiling is a wonder drug, apparently studies have shown that while you are smiling on average you look 3 years younger!!