Smile: The surprising benefits of the facial expression of happiness

Regardless of the scientific evidence, most people know from personal experience how powerful a smile can be within communication and relationships. So much so, that it drives them to smile politely, even if they aren’t feeling positive.

While a polite/fake smile can be beneficial, it’s a genuine smile that’s most powerful. The only difference between the two smiles is the activation of the muscles around the eyes in a genuine smile, which raises the cheeks. 

Smiling and Trust

The smile is the only facial expression that can be seen from a distance of up to 90 metres away and there's a very good reason for this–smiling has been found to elicit feelings of trust in the people we interact with, putting them at ease. When our early ancestors saw someone approach from a distance, their smile would indicate that they were a friend, not a foe. The potential threat of confrontation would be eased–it’s a ‘friend’ signal that reduces stress.

Like some other nonverbal communication expressions and gestures, a genuine smile of happiness is universal, innate within all of us, regardless of culture. It's ingrained deep within us because it's helped us to survive for many thousands of years.

Typically, people don’t consciously assess facial expressions and other nonverbal signals, but their brain is busy processing them at a subconscious level. Here, they are observed and assessed, driving our emotions and feelings and in turn, changing behaviour. 

This effective system has been in place for many thousands of years, working to protect you, ensuring your survival. Fortunately, it won’t be going away any time soon. Just as it works for you, it works for everybody else in the same way. That means your facial expression is being assessed too, influencing the behaviour of others.

If you intend to have positive interactions and relationships, perhaps it’s time to pay more attention to your expression as you meet and greet people, starting the interaction with a smile to put them at ease. After that, just let your expression show your true emotions and be authentic.

Having the ability to create more of a positive experience for others, just from smiling, is profound. But even more powerful, are the beneficial effects on oneself.

Smiling for Wellbeing

Most people are aware that feelings of positive emotion are linked to better health and wellbeing, but more recent evidence suggests that the act of smiling comes with benefits too. And in some cases, that’s regardless of whether a person feels positive emotion or not.

Research surrounding facial expression has found that manipulating expression of emotion (faking expression), can trigger feelings of the emotion expressed. In the case of a smile, the emotion experienced is happiness. So even if you’re not feeling genuinely happy and only smiling to be polite, you’ll still gain some rewards, as your emotion nudges towards happiness.

Smiling and Health Benefits

There’s also evidence suggesting that smiling facilitates stress recovery by reducing the negative effects of stress. What we’re talking about here, is a cardiovascular stress response, linked to future heart-health outcomes–smiling reduces heart rate. If we think of the bigger picture, we know that the body’s stress response can suppress parts of the immune system, so by reducing the effects of stress, we reduce the opportunity for immune system suppression. 

There’s no doubt that these effects are enhanced when the smile is genuine–stemming from positive emotion. However, stress-reducing effects have also been observed in manipulated expression, but to a lesser extent. 

How to Activate a Genuine Smile of Happiness

It can be difficult to crack a smile when you aren’t feeling positive, and although a polite smile has some benefits, a genuine smile goes a lot further in terms of both personal wellbeing and the wellbeing of others.

The good news is, there are tricks to activate a genuine smile, including physically holding a pen between your teeth for a minute or so. But it can be much easier than that–all you need to do is think about a happy thought, memory or something that makes you laugh. It’s that simple! And when you express genuine happiness, your communication partner will too, mirroring your smile and experiencing the benefits themselves.