Welcome to World Smile Day 2018. The aim of the day is very simple – all of us, everywhere around the world, should devote one day each year to nothing but smiles and kind acts.
At Smilefocus we are dedicated to smiles each and every day of the year, so we thought we would add to your smiley knowledge with 5 Top Facts.
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Smiling can improve your mood
Smiling can boost your mood when you’re feeling blue, and may be beneficial for people struggling with anxiety and depression. A 2010 study found that making yourself smile when you’re feeling down helps improve your mood and increases positive thoughts. So, if you’re having a bad day…try smiling anyway.
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Smiling is a stress relief
A 2015 study published in Psychological Science found that smiling can result in a lower heart rate during stressful tasks. Stress generally causes increases in heart rate and blood pressure. So, maintaining a smile when stressed provides you with both psychological and physical health benefits.
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The ‘perfect smile’ is based on symmetry
Dentists look at an imaginary dividing line that passes through the middle of the forehead down through the tip of the nose through the middle of the lips to the tip of the chin. If you imagine that line when your face is in a smiling expression with your upper and lower lips apart, this line divides the front teeth passing right between them. In dentistry this is called the ‘midline’. It is the first criterion of a ‘perfect’ smile. Ideally there would be two equal halves of your face, lips, teeth, etc. on each side of the midline.
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Smiling is contagious
According to a study published in the Trends in Cognitive Sciences journal, social psychologists looked into why we often mimic the facial expressions of our peers when we talk to them. Interestingly enough, one of the conclusions the researchers drew was that we “try on” the emotions of others when we are communicating with them. So, for example, when a friend tells us some gleeful news and looks happy and joyful, we may unconsciously display the same emotion through our facial expression. In doing so, we have a chance to feel and understand their emotions. (Chimps do the same thing.)
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The world’s best smiles
According to Ranker – the (American) people’s choice on best ever male smile is Paul Walker and the best ever female smile is Anne Hathaway. Runners up were Zak Efron and Cheryl Cole.
In celebration of World Smile Day we hope we made you smile.
If you would like to discuss how to enhance your natural smile contact us and we will be happy to help.
