Comments on: Simply Smiling Can Actually Reduce Stress

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 03:38:49 +0000

Yes, actually it does. Smiling can reduce a bit stress. And even in work, if you really do like your job and you are happy doing it, then it can also reduces your stress that you might get from your hardwork.

_Tim

By: Susan Knebel

Susan Knebel — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:27:16 +0000

When my 17 year old son, Paul, was dying of Lymphoma in his own bed with a home hospice supported by Denver’s Childrens Hospital Paul reached his hand up from his bed as I leaned over him to touch the corner of my mouth saying: “Mom, would you please smile that great smile of yours. It will help alot.” I have tried these 31 years since his young death to keep on smiling.

By: charlyn lewis

charlyn lewis — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 02:12:04 +0000

I have often observed people who work with children say things such as, “Get that smile off your face! This isn’t funny.” I wish those people could have read this article sixty years ago. It might have saved many an innocent child from unnecessary tirades. Some people responsible for children,simply rant at the first child they see after something has gone wrong. The first child they see may simply be the one who didn’t run away fast enough-perhaps didn’t know that there was anything to run away from.

By: David Lloyd-Jones

David Lloyd-Jones — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 20:37:32 +0000

Most plausible bit of research I’ve seen reported today!

-dlj.

By: Ann Smith

Ann Smith — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 22:29:42 +0000

Yet another argument for the benefits of Laughter Yoga. :-)

By: CT CHARLIE

CT CHARLIE — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:52:46 +0000

MY ADRENAL GLANDS DO NOT PRODUCE CORTISOL. PEOPLE TELL ME THAT I SMILE A LOT IN STRESSFUL SITUATIONS. THEY FEEL IT ISN’T A NORMAL RESPONSE TO STRESS. MAYBE THAT IS BECAUSE MY ADRENAL GLANDS DON’T PRODUCE ANY CORTISOL. HAVING NO CORTISOL, MIGHT PRODUCE A Duchenne SMILE IN STRESSFUL SITUATIONS. THIS WOULD MEAN THE SMILING IS EASIER WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE ANY CORTSOL.

FROM THE ARTICLE: Researchers are baffled regarding why this might happen. The connection between facial expressions and underlying mental states is still largely unexplored, but some have suggested that smiling could reduce levels of cortisol, a stress-related hormone. This study flips our traditional understanding of emotion and appearance on its head: Feeling good could sometimes be a consequence of smiling, not just the other way around.

By: Carol Dixon Klein

Carol Dixon Klein — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:47:38 +0000

As I viewed your article I caught myself smiling…just looking at the smiling picture! And I tried relaxing from a smile to a negative face…and felt the come-down. Maybe that is why I am almost always smiling! I keep happy. When stress happens I know it is temporary. Because I know I have God within me, my life is a perpetual smile. I never thought about it before the article, so thank you. It makes me realize why people I don’t know well greet me enthusiastically and mention the smile: they smile too when they see mine, and the atmosphere changes. Sniles are important to the chain-reactions that bring about joy.

By: Mary Ann Schmertz

Mary Ann Schmertz — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:48:50 +0000

I read about a similar experiment done with Harvard students possibly over 20 years ago. It made complete sense to me. I tried to encourage my severely depressed daughter to read the article – the corners of her mouth were always down and her eyes were dead looking. As daughters will, she did not follow my suggestion.

By: John

John — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:13:02 +0000

Thanks for this article! I have been under much stress at work for a couple of years and I know it showed in my countenance. Then a stranger came up to me at an outdoor concert recently and out of the blue said I looked angry. It was a wakeup call. I immediately knew right then that I had to start smiling and do it often and everywhere. It has made a huge difference in my life even just the short time I have been consciously smiling everywhere I go.

By: Earl Morgan

Earl Morgan — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:09:27 +0000

During and after extensive treatment , operations, radiation, etc for cancer I used this as therapy many times a day. It worked immediately and constantly through the ordeal. I attributed it to a release of endorphins. I also avoided people who were known to be negative. Whatever, it got me through some very stressful and fearful times. That was 15 yrs. ago.

By: Fred Putnam

Fred Putnam — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 16:57:50 +0000

This phenomenon is discussed in “Blink”, by Malcolm Gladwell, and in the TED video by Ron Gutman (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ron_gutman_the_hidden_power_of_smiling.html).

By: Myron Gochnauer

Myron Gochnauer — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:53:27 +0000

If you are fairly introspective you can easily observe the effect of smiling on emotions. Sit quietly (with a comfortably relaxed body and face) while feeling emotionally neutral or slightly “negative” (bored, anxious, depressed, etc.). Then “do a smile”. If you are anything like me, you will feel a positive emotional shift. Relaxing the face “out of” the smile will shift the emotional state back toward the neutral or negative.

This is hardly surprising, given the importance of psychological association, fire-together-wire-together and similar phenomena. When we “do a smile” our brains receive feedback from the face that is associated with or “wired with” a positive emotional valence. It seems plausible that this feedback either *causes* the positive emotional bias or perhaps even partially *constitutes* it. But that is for psychologists to figure out. Interesting indeed!

By: Mykeljon

Mykeljon — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 12:35:24 +0000

This is another example of research being used to prove the obvious. I have always been aware of the power of the smile, not only to make yourself feel good but to make others feel good. Even smiling while talking on the phone is effective. The smile is always “transmitted” just as the words are. Smiling and laughing are among the greatest health remedies.

By: brianna

brianna — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:00:16 +0000

This is such a wonderful article that I had to print it out and share it with the rest of my office at Dish. I’ve been preaching for years about the effects a smile can have on stress levels. Now, I have something to back me up! Whenever I feel the pangs of stress, I always take a break and catch a few jokes from a funny video or show to make me smile. If I’m not at home, I use my Dish Remote Access app to connect my tablet to my home TV through the sling adapter, so I can smile and giggle along to an episode of 30 Rock from anywhere. I didn’t realize there was an actual science to it though!

By: mutation research

mutation research — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:53:25 +0000

Very thanks for your post its refreshing.