Monday, February 21, 2011

Smiling is Really Good for Your Health

I am a big advocate of smiling. I smile a lot. Even when I am at home alone, I smile a lot. I like to smile at strangers in stores and I try to smile every time I greet my husband. Even if I am not feeling especially happy, I purposely smile because I have found that when I make myself smile, I begin to feel more “smiley”.

Now, I have scientific proof that smiling is really good for you. I have lifted some information from the website of Dr. Caroline Leaf:

Did you know that the mere act of smiling could stop a negative toxic mindset? In fact, research shows that smiling a lot helps towards rewiring the circuit in the brain that helps you keep a positive attitude to life! This means God has designed us in such a way that when we smile with our eyes and mouth…a real deep meaningful smile (called the Duchenne smile), the part of your brain involved in decision-making, intellectual pursuit, shifting between thoughts, and thinking things through rationally becomes stronger and more effective. Simply put, smiling makes you happier and more intelligent!

Some researchers have even shown that a smile lowers stress and blood pressure and stimulates the immune system. In fact our brain pays attention to cues from the rest of our body to determine our moods and emotions (Okun et al, Damasio, Stibich, Jorgenson, Duchenne). So smiling increases our health as well!

And just watch the effect on those around you because smiling, like attitude, is contagious. In fact it’s almost impossible not to respond to a real smile: the mirror neurons God has so graciously wired into our brains are designed to respond with a burst of feel good chemicals being released lifting our spirits and intellect.

If smiling has such a profound affect on the kinds of experiences we have with other people and how they treat us, why don’t you stop a moment and practice a smile? Maybe it will take 7 attempts or more to create that real smile that involves all the muscles…but watch how you feel and watch the response of those around you as you go through the day smiling at everyone.

This is true to the proverbs: “ A merry heart doeth good like medicine” 15:13

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