Cracking a smile regularly may be good not just for your mood but for your health

Reminding yourself to smile often can not only make more friendships but it can also make you feel better.And rather than wait for a reason to smile, just making the physical change of literally turning that frown upside down could impact emotions, according to experts.Research backs up the fact that smiling goes a long way.Some older research has focused on this “facial feedback hypothesis,” according to Jeanne Tsai, a longtime psychology professor at Stanford University who runs the Culture and Emotion Lab.In one classic study in the late 1980s, researchers would have subjects put a pencil between their lips and adopt a smile or a frown while viewing a positive movie clip like a cartoon.Some subjects who smiled would feel the sensation of the smile more and be more amused.“When we’ve done that demonstration in classes, it works,” Tsai said.

“When you’re doing it in a room by yourself, you’re not doing it in a social interaction, maybe it’s making you remember, or it’s an effect of remembering some good thing that happened and that would put you in a better mood.”At the Orange County Academy of Sciences and Arts in Southern California, the power of a smile is taken very seriously.An entire section on the charter school group’s website is dedicated to its philosophy that a smile can make a difference.“Smiling creates a supportive classroom culture that makes students relaxed, active, and motivated,” according to the website.

“It increases emotional well-being, lowers stress, and gives students confidence.”Dr.Judy Ho, a Los Angeles clinical and forensic neuropsychologist who also teaches at Pepperdine University, discusses smiling as a coping strategy with some patients suffering depression or anxiety.“I’m not suggesting that that’s the only way they can fix things,” Ho said.

“It’s just like another thing that you can add to your toolbox.”Smiling can affect one’s level of cortisol, a hormone the body releases partly ...