Do you know there is a WORLD SMILE DAY?
We are bit early as its in October but I thought it fitting to write something cheerful.
Here are 6 reasons why 'GRINNER' are winners every day.
- YOU'LL FEEL HAPPIER; If you've ever smiled and noticed an almost instant mood boost, you're not imagining things. Researchers at the University of Tennessee have found that the simple act of smiling can actually make us feel happier. On the flipside, scowling makes us slightly angrier and frowning can prompt us to feel sadder. Psychologists are still unsure about how and why this happens but it's certainly news worth smiling about.
- YOU'LL SEEM MORE TRUSTWORTHY; Flashing your pearly whites could be one of the fastest ways to get others to trust you, especially for women. A study has found that the bigger their smile, the more trustworthy women are perceived to be.
- YOU'LL WORK HARDER; Feeling happy at work doesn't just make the 9-5 go faster - it can also boost your productivity by more than 10 per cent. Researchers at the university of Warwick in the UK found that workers are up to 12 per cent more productive after experiencing a happy event. Meanwhile, the unhappier workers were 10 per cent less productive - all the more reason for businesses to keep employees happy.
- YOU'LL FEEL LESS STRESSED; In an experiment, a group of people were given stressful tasks to complete that caused their heart rates to increase. Half the group were told to smile, while the other half were given no instructions at all. By the end of the tasks, the heart rates of those participants who smiled returned to normal much faster. The researchers suggest that smiling can help our bodies to cope better under stressful circumstances.
- YOU'LL BE HAPPIER AROUND OTHERS; If social situations make you feel uncomfortable, here's a reason to smile. Scientists set up a scenario where certain participants on a video conference call were ignored by others on the call (sounds a bit mean doesn't it but all in the name of science). The research team found that the ostracised participants who continued to smile anyway felt more positively about the experience compared to those who didn't grin. Many of the smilers actually found the experience amusing!
- YOU MIGHT EVEN BE HEALTHIER; There's some evidence to suggest that smiling and laughing might lead to an increase in white blood cells that can help fight off disease. At least that was the findings of a group of researchers who looked at the white-blood-cell levels of kids in hospital, before and after they watched puppet shows and listened to stories.
