Hi Steemians,
It's a well known fact that happy people tend to live longer than grumpy people. It's fair to say that people who are happier, tend to smile often, have a better interpersonal social skills and stable relationships with others. Smiling has a well-documented advantages which can make you look attractive, trustworthy and intelligent. You wouldn't want to start a conversation with someone in a party if he looks at you with a killer aura right? In 2010, Abel and Kruger conducted a study which investigate the relationship between longevity and smile through collection of old photos of 1952 professional baseball player. They concluded that, any player who had an honest grin, lived 7 years longer than players who didn't smile for the camera. Players whom smile unconvincingly, live 5 years longer.
Honest grin or genuine smile was known as Duchenne smile named after a neurologist in 19th centuries who defined it in a great details. Duchenne smile causes contraction of the muscle around the eyes and mouth (orbicularis oculi and zygomatic major) which can be differentiated from a non-Duchenne smile; which only involved contraction of muscles around the mouth. That's why sometimes it is easier for us to know whether the person we're talking to, smile because they are genuinely happy for something or smile out of social burden. Their expression while smiling looks different in both situations. With some experiences, both of these smiles can be differentiated easier in a photograph.
Is Genuine Smile Really Reflects The Overall Happiness?
The answer is not necessarily. Have you ever wondered, why people like to say cheese before taking a photograph? This is because not all of the people who love to smile have a happy life. A psychologist in a DePauw University said that, when a photographer requested the whole crowd to say cheese in order to initiate the action of smiling, people who are generally not happy but conscientious might be more willing to heed, which make them appear to be smiling (even though the degree of similarity is different with Duchenne smile, it's pretty similar).
In 2008, Andy Coughlan wrote an article entitled " Conscientiousness is the secret to a long life " which conclude that, people who are conscientious were more likely to live longer. This conclusion was made after analyzing 8900 data from 20 previous studies which consist of standardized psychological surveys which include a record on the date they died.
Conscientiousness and social relationships were two important factors of longevity for a non-Duchenne smilers. If you barely smile, remember that, those who took an effort to smile, however unconvincing live longer that those who didn't smile, so start smiling. It can make you live longer!!
References
- Abel, E. L., Kruger, M. L. (2010). Smile intensity in photographs predicts longevity. Psychological Science, 21, 542–544.
- Danner, D. D., Snowdon, D. A., Friesen, W. V. (2001). Positive emotions in early life and longevity: Findings from the nun study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 804–813.
- Diener, E., Chan, M. Y. (2011). Happy people live longer: Subjective well-being contributes to health and longevity. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 3, 1–43.
That's correct. Many studies showed that.
If you are smiling you will have a positive vibe/vibration/energy.
This article remains me of a TED x talk regarding longevity & Gerontology.
Great post !
Yeah. That's correct. There are lots of research being done to study how to improve longevity due to an increase in old age population. Smiling is one of the most underestimated act for longevity. Spread the love, spread the message and let's all smile for a better tomorrow.
Happiness is not out there,it's in you...Amazing article :)
Thank you for reading. Glad you like it.
I love this post, it is something for everyone of us to ponder. I'm not a scientist and I've never done any research or experiment about human's smile. We may live happily with serene smiles on our face but our life is actually in God's hand. What we can do is just live the day everyday as happy as we can, and pray that we have a fruitful life.
That's true. Our life is in God's hand. Now we must appreciate this opportunity that has been given by him by living happily and healthily.
Nothing beats the power of a smile :) Nicely written here - enjoyed reading it!
"Don't Worry - Be Happy!" - Bob Marley