How to Improve Your Life: Smile
We often think of smiling as the visual representation of happiness. But smiling isn’t simply a reaction — it can also help to improve your life. Even in situations where you may not feel like smiling, a simple grin can help to bolster a positive atmosphere.
If you’re hesitant to smile due to yellow, crooked, or missing teeth, Dr. Alfano can help. He can provide convenient solutions for you that can bring up your level of self-confidence.
Smiling Can Relieve Your Stress
When you’re overwhelmed and feel like you have too much on your plate, smiling may be the last thing you want to do. But feeding into negative emotions only makes them stronger, as studies on the true effects of catharsis have shown.
What does actually help in these situations is to use an opposite emotion or activity to quell the negativity. Smiling is a great counter to stress because it relaxes your muscles and reduces your cortisol levels, which are related to stress hormones.
Smiling more often can make you happier in general. Smiling releases endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine to your brain — these are the chemicals of happiness and stress relief.
A Health-Booster
A smile can be a powerful, natural healing mechanism because it helps to lower blood pressure, strengthen your immune system, and relieve pain. Smile and laughter-focused exercises have become more common throughout some areas of medicine due to this.
Though smiling can help you to become more healthy, it isn’t a replacement for professional medical treatment. Smiling can’t cure many problems and only alleviates some symptoms, making it a great exercise to pair with treatment.
Flashing a smile more often can also lead to a longer, more fulfilling life. Together with all of the other benefits of smiling, you can probably see how it adds up to a longer lifespan. It’s been shown that people who smile more frequently are more likely to live longer and healthier lives.
Being more optimistic can also impact how long you live, so next time you’re feeling pessimistic, try to think about the bright side. It may sound corny, but it really could change your life.
Strengthens Social Ties
There are some social actions that are contagious, like yawning. Smiling is another socially contagious action, so if you smile more you’re more likely to make other people smile. Appearing as a positive force in the lives of those around you can make people like you more.
If you smile more often, people are likely to become more attracted to you. This can improve your social life by making you a person that others like to be around.
Smiling Can Make a Difference
Smiling more often begets more genuine smiles by you and those around you. There’s no harm in trying to smile more often, so why not try it? The worst you can do is look like a happier person.
But we recognize it can be difficult to smile if you’re missing teeth. Patients who’ve been missing teeth sometimes tell us they don’t feel as confident as they did before. Dr. Alfano can use all-ceramic dental implants to replace your missing teeth so people won’t even notice you’ve lost teeth.
Find out more about dental implants by calling our office at 949-205-1259 or by filling out the contact form conveniently available on this page. We’re happy to hear from you and will get back to you quickly.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What are the physical health benefits of smiling?
Every time you smile, it triggers your body to release cortisol and endorphins that are linked to numerous physical health benefits. Some of these include:
- Lower blood pressure
- Improved endurance
- Stronger immune system
- Reduced pain
- Lower heart rate
What are the mental health benefits of smiling?
According to research, smiling can improve your mental health in many different ways. Some of these benefits include:
- Improved optimism
- Reduced anxiety
- Increased confidence
- Social acceptance
- Better mood