Scientists Venture Into The Science Of Smiling

Scientists suggest that one can now smile their way to a stress-free life. Researchers have taken a stab at identifying what truly makes the human mind smile and how it can affect an individual's mental state. This particular study was awarded the 2014 Wellcome Trust science writing prize for its innovative as well as refreshing outlook on the science of smiling.

The study explored the idea of what makes a smile fake or genuine. Researchers have so far analysed and concluded, that when an individual uses facial muscles around the eyes as well as the mouth to smile, the smile can be deemed as genuine. This phenomenon has been named as the Duchenne smile.

However, this recent study uncovered the possibility that the Duchenne smile can also be artificially simulated. Researchers at the Northeastern University, Boston observed in their study that a surprisingly large number of people were able to replicate the Duchenne smile without any true emotions behind it. This result, in turn, was supported by studies conducted by other scientists.

Fritz Strack of the University of Mannheim, Germany also conducted a study on human smiles, which revealed that people, sometimes unconsciously used the act of smiling to trick their mind into feeling better about a situation. Based on this concept, researchers from the University of Kansas created their own study which also revealed similar results. It was noticed that when the subjects were asked to artificially simulate a Duchenne smile under stressful situations, their recovery time from the stress was quicker.

Thus, one can safely assume that the physical act of smiling can be effective in tricking the mind into feeling better, thereby making stressful situations easier to handle. Scientists suggest that when smiling, saying "cheeks" instead of "cheese" can be more effective in engaging the facial muscles into replicating a Duchenne smile and make one feel better too. So next time, say cheeks!