the scientific reason why smiling works
This week in Sunday Life I smile
Recently reader Richard wrote to say he didn’t like that in the photos of me as a kid (I believe he’d been Facebook-stalking my family albums) I’m always scowling. Well, thank you Dick for noticing such a detail. And, heck, you’re right! I’ve always hated having my picture taken. I’m sure, Dick, you know what I mean when I say, it just feels so dumb smiling at a camera.
you'd frown too...
But then, lo, smiling at cameras became an occupational hazard (see below). Which was how I learned something quite interesting about smiling.
Strewth!...megasmile for WHO Weekly
When I’m asked to smile for a shot it starts out flimsy, reticent. But then – and this is the interesting bit – the photographer and the stylist and the work experience kid who are watching, smile. Not because something’s amusing them, but because…it’s just what happens. They have these big demented smiles on their face, for no reason, which makes me smile. And snap! we have a picture. I quite love the process now. Ergo, the smile.
Remember how folk went around in the mid ‘80s wearing yellow smiley badges on their Molly Jones dungarees saying, “Smile and the world smiles with you”. Well, I’m realizing they weren’t just annoying, they were onto something. Swedish researchers this year found seeing others smile causes a repression of the control muscles in our own faces, thus involuntarily unleashing a smile. They suggest smiling is evolutionarily contagious – the mimicry helps us read each other’s emotions better.
More interesting research however has found smiling isn’t just a response to happiness (or another’s happiness), it’s a technique for achieving happiness. One analysed students’ yearbook photos and found 30 years on those who’d smiled in their pics had better marriages and were far happier. Another studied baseball card photos from 1952. The smiling players turned out to live seven years longer. In the UK a bunch of boffins bothered to tally the mood-boosting value of one smile. It’s equal to the feel-good brain stimulation of 2000 chocolate bars. Which is just silly.
The upshot: smiling does good stuff. And at a neuro-chemical level. A recent German study found Botox injected into smile muscles interrupted the brain’s happiness circuitry. Which is a lovely irony: aging gracefully really is the more joyful route.
I can’t quite believe (Dick, you too?) frown-y old me would set out on such a mission, but this week I put a smile on my dial to see if it boosted the joy juices. First, I smiled at other people. The cranky old guy at the Post Office who upsets me with his grouchiness when I pick up my mail actually changed his tune on Wednesday when I beamed my way through our transaction. Apparently smiling can be disarming and break down resistance. To this end, the FBI trained staff at a Seattle bank to smile at robbers. The approach is said to have halved the number of robberies across the city.
OK, enough of the studies. Yes, smiling, got others smiling back at me and this made for sunnier times.
But can smiling make a difference intrinsically? To this end I smiled on my own for a few days. It’s a simple experiment. You smile. And feel. And , lo, things do in fact get lighter and more expansive, like a balloon rising. Try it! Smile like no one’s watching (hey, whack that in a badge-making machine, people!).
Taoists teach a similar inner smile meditation. I first came across it reading Eat Pray Love. Remember that scene where Ketut the medicine man suggests Elizabeth Gilbert forget her fancy meditation techniques and simply smile from the inside. “Smile with your liver,” he said. I’ve been playing with this, too. I sit still, eyes closed. I smile with my eyes (remember they’re still shut), then my stomach, then my toenails and my liver, and so on. The sensation is…disarming. Something powerfully releasing really does kick in and I can see why Taoist monks look like they’re always in on some joke.
To smile is possibly the most efficient happiness hit I’ve tried. It gets you happy, and gets others in on the same act, creating a perfect feedback loop. Worried forcing it might look false, a little Cheshire? Don’t. Yet more studies show we’re really bad at spotting fakes.
Fake it ‘till someone smiles back at you dementedly, I say.
It’s been two weeks since I wrote this column and I’ve been sticking with this smiling caper. And it works. The other morning at sunrise I was walking into the sun. People were walking towards me – but I couldn’t make out their faces – and I instinctively smiled. Walking back the other way, I noticed the strangers walking towards me – and into the sun this time – also smiled. It made me think smiling is our default position…we correct (turn it down) as we study a face and become wary…
Sarah you’ve posted multiple images of you as a sad looking child. I hardly think Richard would need to facebook stalk you.
That paragraph ruined the whole tone of the article for me. However, glad to hear you are hopefully feeling happier.
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July 10th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Agree, there have been a few reader’s comments which ask the same, so I doubt every ‘dick’ is facebook stalking you. You are the one who provided the photos in your blog for all to see.
IS there a photo of you as a child smiling?
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July 10th, 2011 at 2:32 pm
I don’t deny it. I admit I was a serious kid who caused my Dad grief when he asked me to smile for a photo…just the way I was!
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July 10th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
At the age of 36, I still cause my family grief cause I refuse to have my photo taken. No matter how hard I just relax and smile, I seriously turn out looking constipated! it just doesn’t work. Never has, never will!
July 11th, 2011 at 5:41 am
I have an embarrassing photo of me as a kid with my family, under a waterfall, on a tropical vacation. I’m about two feet from them and frowning; they’re in a group and smiling. I smile for photos now.
Sarah when I was working as an employment consultant one of the most important pieces of advice was put a smile on your dial before you pick up the phone and call the number and keep it there while you are speaking ….somehow this translates into a better energy for you and the person you are calling.
When I find myself feeling a bit down in the dumps I will check in with what is my face doing and then turn the corners of my mouth up into a smile and magic does happen. Will go the extra step and start smiling with my tootsies next!
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This sits somewhat uncomfortably with some of the other things you have written Sarah – especially those articles where advocate living authentically and embracing our more somber moods. Indeed, only recently (and perhaps partly as a result of some of the things you have been writing) I discovered that I have been smiling too much, and trying to be disarm people with mirth. And you know what? It’s felt fake. What is more, others have sensed the phoniness too, suggesting I have long been ‘trying too hard’. Most interestingly, when I stopped TRYING to smile – it always seemed I was the one initiating these smiles in an attempt to disarm the other person – and let it emerge from the conversation/situation, I felt far more at ease with myself, and noticed others responding to me in a more relaxed manner as well.
Which is not to say I don’t agree with the notion that smiling might have positive ramifications; I just think it needs to start from something real. Being amused at people’s demented smiles at photo shoots kind of works I guess, but it’s still coming from something rather forced situation. (What inspires the others to whack those smiles on? Do they find it demented too or all they all caught up in the hype and plasticity of the scenario). But when you really feel like smiling – that to me is a whole other story. To illustrate, my authentic smiles are the ones people REALLY respond to. I was walking around Singapore not all that long ago, and happened to be recounting a humorous episode to myself, and quite magically, I looked up to see a monk beaming back at me, realizing that he was responding to the grin I had plastered across my own face in response to the episode I had been reliving. THAT to me is authentic. (And full marks to him for picking up on it, making me think people of his ilk have a kind of radar for this kind of thing.) But ‘Faking it till you make it’? Sounds like another manifestation of positive psychology to me.
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July 10th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Hey Andrew, your thoughts remind me of something Gretchin Rubin says…do the opposite of what your’e doing …you’re a smiler…back off and see what happens. For me smiling triggers something in me that feels like smiling more. It’s not false. It’s real. It’s me without my defences and worry and preoccupations…
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July 17th, 2011 at 6:05 pm
I like your explanation Sarah. When you frame it that way, your own approach of smiling more often and my own strategy of smiling less both make sense within the context of growth (trying something different; and I really like the ‘back off and see what happens’ advice), and authenticity (remaining true to ourselves). Cheers for the clarification.
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July 10th, 2011 at 11:02 pm
My psychologist told me to fake it till you make it when I was wallowing in depression over my marriage breakdown. I just thought ‘you crazy badtard’ but I tried it and it did really help. Of course the marriage was still broken, I was still hurt but I wasn’t wallowing in pain. Just so u know it works! From a sceptic.
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July 10th, 2011 at 11:04 pm
Bastard or Fucker if you prefer.
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Hi Sarah,
I enjoyed reading your article about smiling in the Sunday paper today, so thought I’d check out your website and leave a comment – and here it is.
Smiling immediately puts you in a more positive frame of mind – and smiling sort of makes you sit up straighter/stand up taller. Try smiling while you’re in a slumped position – it’s almost impossible.
I’m going to put your theory to the test this week and start smiling a lot – starting right now
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July 10th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Welcome!
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Sarah, you have a mega-watt smile which is gorgeous. Now, however, having read this article, I will be wondering if the next time I see you on tv or in a mag (or occasionally around Bondi) you’re ‘faking it’ or being genuine just because you’re in the public eye.
Smiling is contageous and there is nothing better than seeing someone smile (esp kids) because they’re happy or feeling good.
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July 10th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Mostly those shots of me…I’m laughing cos I’m feeling it…I’m laughing at myself…at the photographer…sometimes because I know it just helps on a shoot. If that makes sense. I’ve come to genuinely appreciate the role I have. It’s taken time.
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Hi Sarah
I just went into your public facebook page to have a look at your photos and check out your smiles. There are all these weird photos for other ‘Sarah Wilsons’. Not sure if you posted them yourself but it’s kinda weird.
Anyway, it was easy to spot the photos where you looked happy and comfortable, and in a few, you looked a little uneasy.
But you are very photogenic and your eyes are very soulful. Nice
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July 10th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
ha! yes, i think people have just put a link in there… I particularly like the two dogs one!
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Slightly off topic here, but what’s with all the golf stuff you’re selling on ebay? Did you actually play the game or was it promotional stuff?
I was very keen on the golf clubs til I saw the size. At 5ft 2, they would be bigger than me!
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July 11th, 2011 at 7:33 am
I did play for a bit…was an ambassador to golf australia…not really my thing. Too slow!
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Do your brothers still have fair hair or did they turn out dark like you? I have 2 sisters and as children we all had snowy white hair, but now any blonde is due to peroxide! Funny how colours change.
The little boy with the mo looks quite cheek, but you were all very cute. I hope the makeup artist didn’t use a permanent marker!
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July 11th, 2011 at 7:33 am
We’re all dark. But were white-blonde as kids
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How can you facebook stalk someone’s family albums? I’m assuming Sarah that you know Richard to have given him access to your facebook in the first place? Or perhaps he is a facebook friend of one of your brothers/parents?
Either way, I’d be cutting off his access.
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Smiling is awesome, it makes you happy and drives others nuts wondering what you are up to!
Have you seen those laughter clubs? Where people meet in public places purely for the health and wellbeing benefits of a good laugh? It’s awesome, because they start out ridiculously over the top with fake laughter, and then everyone laughs at how ridiculous it is and it becomes genuine.
I’ll always be indebted to your reader who suggested watching laughing babies on Youtube to cheer you up. This never fails to make me giggle!
Love your happy photo. It’s gorgeous.
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I learnt that smiling brings distance closer between strangers a while ago, from my mum. One day, while driving past a boom gate, i was surprised that the cashier was atypically ‘happy’ and helpful – literally beaming at our faces. I commented that and turned to my mum – my mum was smiling. Once we past the boom gate, my mum laughed and said she noticed the cashier was pretty straight faced and my mum had smiled at her while we approached the boom gate… and the cashier smiled back.
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This post is great! I have a little smiling story.
Yesterday, during yoga class the music that was on changed to something a bit jazzy and I thought “interesting, a little atypical for yoga” my teacher then directed us to stand in tadasana/mountain pose and gently said “now turn the corners of you mouths upwards” and this synchronised with Louis Armstrong singing “When you smilin..” and I don’t know why but I welled up with tears – the happy type. It made me realise how ridiculously serious I’d been in class prior. What a weight off!
I have been to laughter clubs in India and someone taught me the kookaburra laugh they do for visiting Australians and now I can’t hear a kookaburra without smiling.
Thanks for how you share Sarah!
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July 11th, 2011 at 7:31 am
I like that! I know that teary yoga rush!
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I’m a serious person who has taught herself to smile more. Don’t get me wrong, I smile comfortably, but I often catch myself deep in thought and not smiling. I realized when I was younger that people were getting the wrong impression from this, i.e. that I was aloof from them, or was judging them. I’ve tried to become more conscious of how I’m actually feeling, and allowing my face to reflect that. Most of the time I observe that I feel at minimum a gentle, bemused affection for the people and life swirling around me, when I’m out and about, so the smile comes quite naturally. I think that’s what this is about.
PS I really want to smile from my liver, but I’m not sure I can actually find my liver…
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July 11th, 2011 at 7:31 am
Just pretend you know where it is…roughly under your right ribs…fake it!
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[...] Sarah Wilson tells why you should start smiling more {a great resolution for the [...]
I’m an awkward smiler, I kind of smile in photos but I always feel like a fraud. I was that kid in the family photo pulling the stupid face, I used to love getting the photos back (remember that? waiting for a film to be developed!) and seeing my Mum’s reaction.
I dont like smiling, I think I need practice, but I do like getting a smile out of a kid. I like to surprise kids in the shops or in the isles at Woolies with some of my best faces, one I call the “pop-eye” seems to get the best smiles and sometimes tears, but the more subtle “blow-fish” or “Edward E Newman” still get smiles. So I think I like getting the smile, it lifts my mood, but I think I need to work on wearing a smile.
The face is an amazing thing, I think dogs smile as well.
If you see me in Woolies pull your best face and I might smile (or cry).
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I kept my smile on while reading this post
)
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I agree that forcing it isn’t necessarily the healthiest way to go, but I find that if I just smile into myself, it makes me feel genuinely happy when I otherwise may not have been. Kind of just pulling myself out of a blah mood. Then the smile becomes genuine and people definitely respond (like the positive feedback loop you mentioned, Sarah)! My emotions are always splattered across my face so to fake it would definitely not be something I could pull off. I’d probably just scare small children.
I was hanging out in Sydney’s Pitt Street mall recently and a street musician started to play one of my favorite songs (from the Lion King..:P) which my boyfriend thinks is too silly, and so I started dancing and hamming it up and smiling and caught the eye of one gentlemen who looked up and just beamed at me. When I smiled back, his grin widened further. It felt amazing!
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[...] Sarah Wilson writes about why smiling really does work. [...]
[...] enjoyed Sarah Wilson’s blog post on why smiling can make you feel happier. It’s advice I’ve heard before, but it’s [...]
I read Mothering with Mindfulness Compassion and Grace recently. One exercise was to take a breath and smile on the exhale. It became an automatic response. Until I forgot about it. I’m starting that again. It was lovely.
A 3 breath hug as a way to reconnect with your family is lovely also. Breathing becomes synchronised. Lovely until a wee boy in the family made it into a wrestling move.
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