Smile more

 

“I will never understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish.”

– Mother Teresa –

I came across this delightful TED talk entitled ‘The Hidden Power of Smiling‘ by a very sweet guy called Ron Gutman and I wanted to share it with you. It also follows on quite nicely from the post that I wrote yesterday ‘Lighten Up.’

In his talk, Ron emphasises the importance of smiling more.

He also highlights a stack of research that provides evidence that smiling can have a really positive effect on your life. Not only can one smile create the same amount of positive brain stimulation that 2000 bars of chocolate could create, but smiling is as stimulating as receiving 1600 pounds Sterling in cash.

Smiling also makes you healthier by reducing levels of stress enhancing hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine, and also increases mood enhancing hormones such as endorphins, which in turn help to reduce blood pressure.

Smiling also makes you look good in the eyes of others, as when we smile people perceive us to be more confident and competent.

He also talks about how we’re smiling when we’re born, we smile when we’re little and we’re smiling even when we’re in the womb.

Children can smile up to 400 times a day, whereas only a third of adults smile more than 20 times a day.

And he also highlights a study that was done on images of people (smiling and not smiling) and how they indicate how long you’re going to live. According to the study, the span of your smile can predict the span of your life.

So, want to feel happier, healthier and live a longer life? Smile more.

Sending you lots of love, hugs and light,

Kat x x x

Inspiration for this post

Ron Gutman’s TED talk ‘The Hidden Power of Smiling’

Image reference – http://pinterest.com/pin/501236633497986116/