Just Smile

This is for you Mom- the smiliest person I know!

Fun Facts about Smiling

• A smile is a universal expression of happiness and recognised as such by all cultures
• A smile is the most frequently used facial expression It takes as few as five pairs of facial muscles and as many as all 53 to smile
• Regardless of the precise number of muscles used, smiling causes far fewer muscles to contract and expand than frowning
• Smiling releases endorphins and makes us feel better
• Even ‘faking’ a smile can lead to feeling happier
• People are born with the ability to smile (They don’t copy the expression, even babies who are born blind, smile)
• Babies reserve special smiles (Duchenne smiles of joy and happiness) for their loved ones
• A newborn shows a preference for a smiling face over a non-smiling face
• Women smile more than men
• Younger people smile more than older American males with high testosterone smile least of all
• There are 18 different kinds of smile used in a variety of social situations
• Human beings can differentiate between the ‘felt’ (Duchenne) smile (of joy and happiness) and the social smile – ‘it’s in the eyes’ (literally)
• A smiling person is judged to be more pleasant, attractive, sincere, sociable, and competent than a non-smiling person
• A person who studies laughter is called a ‘gelotologist’