What do people notice first when they meet you? 31% will notice your eyes, but 47% will notice your smile (source: USA Today December 2010). Since over 50% of all communication is non-verbal, smiling provides others with a positive first impression of you (source: Forbes Magazine). Those who smile frequently are perceived as being more confident and successful. They are also better at encouraging others to co-operate with them.
Smiling also helps us deal with stress and enables us to think better when performing complex tasks. Stress hormones are reduced while endorphins and serotonin are released (which make you feel better). In fact, smiling is 2000 times more potent than chocolate at triggering the pleasure centre of our brain.
Those who smile have happier marriages and live longer. Studies also show that smiling can make you live longer by up to 7 years. It lowers blood pressure and strengthens your immune system thereby making you healthier. In addition, smiling makes those around you happier as well.
When you smile, you appear younger. Researchers studied how people perceived the ages of individuals who were smiling, had no expression, were frowning or showed other expressions. Those who were smiling were perceived as younger compared with no expression, while frowning made subjects look older.
Smiling also benefits those around us. When you smile, the world smiles back. This is because smiles are contagious and when you smile, studies have shown that you lift the mood of those around you.
