The Power of Smile Therapy

Smile therapy is an effective technique that tricks your brain into thinking that you’re happy or that something is funny. This creates more endorphins (chemicals released from the pituitary gland responsible for making you happy) and thus, happiness. This often leads to genuine smiles as well, but a real smile or a fake smile doesn’t matter to your brain—it’s the actual muscles in your face that trigger a response from your brain chemicals to increase happiness. Not only does this make you cheerier, but it also helps improve your health.

Show Some Teeth

Showing your teeth in the form of a smile can actually improve the positivity you experience, regardless of whether or not you’re experiencing positivity at the time. Smiling while experiencing stress—especially when first feeling stress—can inhibit your body’s reaction to the stress whether or not you actually feel good. Therefore, the simple action of smiling can actually combat stress and improve your immune system as well as change your mood. Smiling also makes you more attractive and is contagious! Watch others smile when you flash some teeth their way.

Increase Positive Experiences

Smiling can also trigger your brain to perceive things as funnier than they really are. When you’re not smiling, something may not seem amusing or funny. Try experiencing the same thing again with a smile on your face. Chances are you’ll react differently. By employing the muscles in your face that are responsible for smiling, you can prompt your brain to believe that something is funny or is making you happy, which in turn increases your mood and can lower stress levels. Since stress can hinder the immune system, doing away with stress can help improve your body’s immune function.

Smile therapy may sound like a trick, which it essentially is—on your brain! However, research has proven this theory true time and again. By faking a smile, you can actually make a difference for your mood in addition to reducing your stress and being more appealing to other people.

Are you self-conscious about your smile? Schedule an appointment with your dentist to see what he or she can do. It’s never too late to get your dream smile to practice some smile therapy on yourself and on others to feel better!

The post Need to Reduce Stress Fast? Try Smile Therapy! appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.

Keep Calm— Smiling Reduces Stress

Stress and anxiety fade when a smile crosses your face. By releasing endorphins (your happy chemicals), smiling can turn your anxiety and stress into a relaxed, pleasant face. Try it next time you’re at work or feeling overwhelmed at home.

Endorphins are released when the muscles in your face work to construct your smile, and even a fake smile or laugh works! You can help your brain to relax and release endorphins whether or not you’re actually feeling happy, amused, or tickled. In addition to reducing stress, endorphins can also help people suffering from chronic pain. Endorphins work to fight the feeling of pain in the body, so things like exercise and smiling that release endorphins are now on your to-do list. Release tension with a smile!

Smile to Fight Illness

Did you know that smiling can actually boost your immune system? Increase your white blood cell count with a smile! In addition to reducing stress (which can encourage illness, as white blood cell count plummets), you can help your body to better respond to intruders and illnesses with a smile. So relax, smile, and brave the flu season with a grin on your face!

Smiling can even be good for your heart because it helps you to better deal with stress and illness. This study shows that people who smiled more had healthier hearts (or, hearts that recovered faster from stress) than those didn’t.

Get Extra Benefits with Laughter

You may be smiling through a telephone call with an old friend, but for those times you bubble over with laughter, you’re getting some extra health benefits! From richer air into your lungs to stimulate major organs to dropping your stress levels and leaving a great feeling from your increased heart rate, laughter truly is the best medicine.

Having a good laugh can increase circulation, boost your immune system, better your coping mechanisms in response to stress or anxiety, and improve your mood. Feeling happy is more than just a passing endorphin rush—turns out feeling happy can actually lead to being happy!

If you’re self-conscious about your smile, visit your dentist to get your smile cleaned or beautifully restored. Although you may not feel like smiling with a stained, chipped, or gapped smile, your dentist can help you to gain your confidence back and enjoy the health benefits of your smile every day. Smile and laugh to be healthy!

The post Smile—It’s Good for You! appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.