Have you ever had someone tell you to cheer up or smile? While that can be quite annoying when you’re having a bad day, studies have shown that the act of smiling does indeed make you happier. Not only does smiling boost your mood, but it can also decrease stress and depression and even improve your immune system. To ensure a lifetime of healthy smiles, reach out to our Cerritos dental experts today! No insurance? No problem. Jesmine Boghawala DDS has a dental membership plan for you.
Smile Like You Mean it, Even When You Don’t
Some people’s mouths naturally form into a frown, caused either by genetics or poor habit. Breaking out of this habit is extremely possible and just takes a little more awareness. Lightly smiling throughout the day while you’re going about your normal routine, can really increase the level of happiness and peace you feel. Even when we don’t feel like our best selves, forcing a smile can totally change our mood or create a positive outlook on whatever we may be facing. While we naturally smile when we feel joy, we actually have the ability to create that joy by inverting this effect. Studies have also shown that those who have a neutral face or smile when experiencing pain, actually suffer less than those who frown when doing so.
The Brain & Body’s Reaction
When we smile, a chemical reaction occurs in the brain where the hormones dopamine and serotonin are released. These hormones are responsible for creating feelings of happiness and reducing stress. In the same way that exercising increases these hormones as well, so does smiling. When someone has low levels of serotonin and dopamine, they often suffer from depression. Depression has a huge effect on our immune system, weakening it quite dramatically. Therefore, smiling more can also boost our immune system. The brain can’t recognize whether or not something is actually joyous, it just relies on our body’s reactions to situations. While we smile naturally when something makes us happy, we can also smile when nothing is happening or even when we’re feeling down to lift our spirits.
In addition to boosting our immune system, smiling can also lower our heart rate in stressful situations. It’s also responsible for lowering blood pressure and increasing our life-span. With the help of Jesmine Boghawala DDS, you can love the smile looking back at you every day. As a top Cerritos dental provider, we take pride in making every patient feel at home.
Shifting Your Perspective
Many studies have shown that people who smile more are often more likely to see the bright side of things, even challenging situations, than those who are prone to frowning. When facing a difficult task, the act of smiling while trying to figure it out can open your brain to more possibilities of how to tackle the problem. On the flip-side, frowning may only create more obstacles — your brain will start to see everything wrong with the problem and become pessimistic in its ability to solve it. Just forcing a light grin can really shift our perspective and open us up to more solutions.
Boosting Your Confidence
Smiling at yourself in the mirror can also greatly boost your confidence. Think about how you feel when a friend, or even a stranger, smile at you — your body naturally responds back in a smile. It’s a subconscious response that takes a millisecond to occur. If you apply this method to yourself by smiling in the mirror each day, you create more love and acceptance for the person you are. Even on your worst days and even when you’re unhappy with the way you look, smiling at yourself in the mirror opens you up to the bountiful beauty each and every one of us has inside, no matter what we’ve achieved, no matter how we look. This love and acceptance of yourself create boundless confidence that no one can take away from you. Check out how to create a ritual out of smiling with Theresa Cheung.
Why Some People Avoid Smiling
While smiling seems like an easy task with many great benefits, some people avoid smiling because they’re embarrassed. Some may feel self-conscious about the state of their teeth or are unable to fully embrace their goofy grin. Those who feel confident about their teeth tend to smile more. Staying up to date on dental work can help ensure a beautiful smile and the confidence to go along with it. Need teeth cleaning in Cerritos? Our Cerritos dental team helps pave the way to getting you that perfect, beautiful smile so you can feel confident each day.
