is helping me to stay happy? Science is ON THE FACE, er, Case!

Emotions are private affairs, they exist almost completely inside our bodies, but our face

is highly connected to the expressing of these emotions. Even back in the 1870s, Darwin believed

emotions expressed outwardly were more intense than those held in. The thing is, it's not

a one way street; emotional expression on the face, feeds BACK into the brain too!

The face is connected to the brain by the seventh cranial nerve. The nerve runs exits

the skull just in front of your ears and splits into five branches which activate different

parts of the face. Let's all agree to stop telling people it only takes four muscles

to smile… or whatever number of muscles. There are 43 muscles in the face on average,

some people have MORE facial muscles, and some less. According to HowStuffWorks, it

takes 10 muscles to smile and six to frown… but even though it's tougher to smile, that

work isn't going to waste!!

Smiling is a generally universal expression of happiness; one of the only universal expressions

actually. Multiple studies have shown even FAKE SMILING will help you find things funnier

and feel happier. In the 1970s and 80s, psychologists determined faking a smile will help people

feel less stressed and happier overall. Research from the University of Kansas showed people

being forced to smile could endure mild icewater pain and recover more quickly! To force a

smile, volunteers were told to hold a pen or chopstick in their teeth, like a dog bone,

or with their lips. One makes a smile, the other a pout… A new study from Germany mimicked

these by forcing people to smile, and then measuring how they felt. They were shown Gary

Larson's Far Side comics -- Sidebar: Stuff like this is why I love the Germans. -- And

you know what? People with the pen in their teeth rated the comics as FUNNIER!

It's not just a feedback loop through your nerves. Smiling constricts the internal carotid

artery which brings blood to your brain. The constricted vessel lowers the temperature

of the blood and thus the brain overall. A hot brain happens when people are stressed

or afraid, cooler brains occur when people are calm or happy. Essentially, by fake smiling

you may be tricking your brain into making you feel happy.

And finally, as we've said a number of times, humans are social creatures, so when you smile,

others will SEE that and reflect it back to you. A botox surgeon in Maryland froze the

frown lines on a number of patients, making it impossible for them to LOOK sad. A published

study followed patients who had this done, and believe this resulted in a facial feedback-loop!

They were unable to express sadness, and they all self-reported lower levels of depression,

anxiety and irritability. Though, we're not saying go get botox, that's pretty extreme,

but It's like Louis Armstrong said, "when you're smiling, the whole world smiles at

you!"

And on top of that, you'll feel happier too! So go try it! GET OUT THERE AND SMILE!

People can tell when you're faking your smile, though… so make sure you watch this video

about that.

Do you ever force yourself to put on a happy face?