Introduction
Studies have indicated that a Smile is a natural way of keeping away stress especially in the modern world where people are faced with numerous problems stress. This paper expounds the benefits that a smile can bring to one’s mental and physical health. A smile is defined as an upward stretch of the mouth that occurs without vocal sounds, it can, however, be followed by loud exhalations, especially at its inception (Chapman & Foot; 2005 p158). It is an indication of happiness and a state of well being.
Often people smile when they are aroused by some stimuli, which can either be a joke, humor, praises by others on them or meeting friends. There are two categories of smiles, namely; a sincere and an insincere; a sincere smile is uncontrollable, where the subject finds him or herself smiling as a result of being aroused by some stimuli. An insincere smile is one that the subject forces on his or her face often to please people. Either way, smiling can easily be developed into a habit by those who often smile.
Benefits of a smile on the physical health
It is good that people develop the smiling habit because of the benefits that it has both on our physical and mental states. It is an outer expression of our inner feelings; this means smiling, is an indication of our inner state of well being. A frowned face, on the other hand, indicates a frowned inner state as well. One significant reason that encourages us to smile at others even if it means expressing an insincere smile to them is that people will tend to react to us the same way we react to them.
When you smile to someone, they will equally tend to smile back just like they are likely to do when we scowl at them. A smile shared between two people is an indication of peace and mutual respect between the two people (Malone, 1997 p186). Developing this as a habit can have several social benefits, especially when interacting with people. Successful marketers, politicians, managers, or receptionists have learned to show a smile to people.
A smile instills confidence in those they serve or interact with. It is common to see people gravitating towards a smiling face for a service or inquiry than towards a frowned face. Offering a service with a smile is self-fulfilling as it leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction knowing that you offered the service to your best. Self-satisfaction, especially at the workplace helps to reduce stress and motivates you to do the work even better.
Studies point to a smile as a natural pain killer; most people reduce body pains emanating from fatigue, hard work, and stress using medical pain killers. Medical pain killers often have side effects such as dependence on the drug and other body reactions to the drug. It is easy to avoid these effects resulting from the use of medical substances for purposes of pain reduction by adopting a smile as a habit. By smiling, the body is made to release endorphin, serotonin, and other natural pain killers that make the body feel good (Greenwald & Loehr, 2007 p98).
Adopting this as a habit can save one from the costs of buying the medical pain killers and the negative effects that the medicated pain killers can cause to the body. The best side associated with a smile as a pain killer is that it is free of cost and can be expressed anytime and anywhere, alone or with people.
There are indeed no restrictions as to where one should express a smile only that some people depending on the environment and conditions through which they are brought up, tend to be naturally gloomy. Such people are prone to developing stress as they keep everything to themselves.
A smile relieves stress and acts as an immune booster as well as lowering blood pressure. A stressed person shows the stress on his or her face; the expression on the face is usually of a tired, worn out, or overwhelmed person. Another sign of stress is a lack of concentration and being in deep thoughts about the problems that one is facing in life. Too much stress can weigh one down and even result in other serious ailments.
It is important to know how to deal with stress naturally to avoid possible ailments that may result from it. The best way to deal with stress is to develop the habit of smiling as a natural medicine to stress. Colds and flues can easily be prevented by smiling, smiling makes the body relaxed and improves the body’s immune system people (Malone, 1997 p180).
It is important that the body is enabled to fight ailments on its own by boasting the immunity. The body immunity can be boasted by exercising, eating a well-balanced diet, and avoiding situations that can cause the body stress. The body cells have a receptor for substances produced when one is happy; these substances have a positive influence on the immunity of the body.
Wearing a smiling face makes one attractive and pleasant to those close to him or her; it gives them a feeling of an approachable person. Often we will tend to be drawn to people wearing a friendly smile than those who are gloomy; this indicates a physical attraction factor that is associated with a smile. Grimaces and scowls tend to repel people away as they are associated with bad feelings.
Those employed in the reception areas to usher visitors to organizations or companies must develop a smiling habit that will draw people towards them for inquiries about the company or organization’s products. A gloomy face on the reception can push people away and hurt the organizations’ business. A smile is a significant ingredient to professional and career success.
It is one’s first representation to the people you interact with and an indication that you mean well for them. A smile is a great exercise for both the body and the muscle; people who exercise often look younger and attractive (Lalanne, 2003 p85). A smile stretches the facial muscles acting as a form of exercise for the muscles.
Benefits of a smile to the mental health
A positive mood can be attained and maintained by a smile; it makes us feel better and improves our perspective. Smiling increases the level of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is responsible for improving our sense of optimism and well being (Greenwald & Loehr, 2007, p86). Our mood will usually determine how well we interact with others and even perform at various assignments; if you are in a bad mood, you will feel tired and disinterested in anything.
Some people even tend to be aggressive and can easily fight or quarrel when they experience mood swings. This can easily be avoided by developing a smiling habit, which generates a good mood. Mood swings can especially work you down in competitions when the game seems not to be on your side, as a player a smile makes your body more relaxed. A relaxed body also allows the mind to concentrate on the game, and this can easily enable you to switch back to the top.
A consistent smile lifts the face making one look younger than his or her age. Cosmetic facelifts are very costly, movie stars and celebrities spent lots of dollars on facelift to attain a beaming face that is attractive to the public. The aim of cosmetic surgery is to have a health and naturally attractive face; this is done by peeling off the facial skin to restore the baby face look. Rather than go through all this complicated and delicate processes, a smile as a habit can save you from the surgeons’ knife for the sake of facelift.
It is becoming difficult for some people to accept the aging fact, and this makes them try dangerous processes to hide from the reality of aging. As a result, many have ended up with more complications or even died in the process. There is a connection between the heart, brain, and the face, the delight of the heart is expressed on the face as a smile (Benton, 1999 149). A relaxed body and mind can give you a younger looking face.
We can be able to stay positive by keeping on a smile; a smile is an indication of life being okay for you. It is true a smile alone can not solve the problems that one may have, but it improves your optimism making you develop a belief that a solution to the problem can be found. Cases of committing suicide, stress cannot cross the mind of a smiling face as for a gloomy face. The public also tends to react negatively to no-smiling faces, heaping an expanded feeling of rejection that further injects negative thoughts in such a person’s mind.
A positive mind is capable of doing more great things than a negative mind. A smile facilitates positive thinking by giving one a psychological lift; negative thoughts are not compatible with a smile (Malone p181). A positive mind can conquer even the most difficult situation that scares the others; it always builds hope that a solution can be found. A negative mind, on the other hand, tends to avoid the problem by giving justifications how the problem can not be solved.
Conclusion
Based on the discussion in the preceding paragraphs of this paper, it is important that we develop a smiling habit because of the numerous benefits we are bound to get from this habit. The great thing about a smile is that it’s free of cost, but brings about a lot of benefits to the person who offers it. The benefits can be classified as social, mental, and physical health benefits. On the social aspect, a smile is capable of drawing people towards you and makes you more acceptable to others.
The reaction you give out is what you will receive from the people. Mentally, a smile sets you free from stress and gives you a relaxed, pleasant mood. In the physical aspect, a smile improves your look, makes you look younger, and keeps you healthier. Psychologically a smile makes you develop a positive mind, which is vital for being successful in one’s endeavors.
Works cited
Chapman, Antony & Foot, Hugh. Humor and Laughter: Theory, Research and Application. New Brunswick: John Willy & Sons, 2007.
Lalanne, Jack. Revitalize Your Life: Improve Your Looks, Your Health And Your Sex Life. New York: Hastings House, 2003.
Greenwald, Jeff, & Loehr Jim. The best tennis of your life: 50 mental strategies for fearless performance. Ohio: Better way books, 2007.
Malone, Samuel. Mind Skills for Managers. Hampshire: Gower Publishing Ltd, 1997.
Benton, Debra. Secrets of a CEO Couch: Your Personal Training Guide to Thinking like a Leader and Acting like a CEO. New York: McGraw Hill, 1999.