How smiling impacts both your mental and physical health

Smiles are the universal symbol of happiness

Receiving a smile from a stranger or friend brings you instant feelings of joy and pleasure. No words or further communication is required to feel immediate happiness, and therefore you can’t help but smile back yourself. Smiles are contagious and are the only thing we want to spread.

Did you know smiling is so much more than just a facial expression? As science suggests, the physiological response from your body can improve both your mental and physical health.

The benefits of smiling

Here are the positive physiological responses and benefits of smiling:

1. Boosts mood and positivity

The muscles in your face that move when you smile sends signals to your brain, releasing hormones like serotonin which make you feel happier and generate positive emotions. This is why it’s important to consciously smile throughout the day even if it doesn’t reflect how you’re feeling. Smiling will act as an instant mood booster.

2. Alleviates stress

When your brain releases these happy hormones, it also affects our bodies stress response system. These hormones help you feel relaxed and lower your heart rate, which naturally reduces feelings of stress and brings on feelings of calmness. The flow on effect from smiling in your body is truly amazing!

3. Strengthens your immunity

As too much stress can weaken our immune system, smiling more releases happy hormones leading to calmness and relaxation, allowing your body to feel less stressed and increase your immunity. A stronger immune system is a further flow on effect from a happy mind and body.

Smiling is just part of the puzzle

Of course, our mental and physical health relies on other healthy lifestyle choices such as regular physical activity, healthy eating and social connection, but if a simple smile can give you even a moment of joy, we say smile away as much as possible!

Start to smile at strangers – it will make their day and yours!

Check out some of our best wellness and fitness on-demand videos, guaranteed to make you smile and feel happy:

Laughing yoga – just give this yoga session a go – it is guaranteed to make you smile!

Happy mind meditation – this meditation will help to clear your mind leaving you feeling happier and lighter.

Finding calmness chat – Kyla’s warm and fuzzy nature plus her simple tools to help you find calmness will certainly put a smile on your file.

Heart opening yoga – this yoga session walks through positions aiming to ease your breath and open up the chest area.

Yoga for anxiety – Join Michael in this 30min class working through movements to target anxiety.

Detox flow yoga – a short yoga session to destress and detox.

We’ve got everything you need to stay active so login and book your active training, yoga class and meditation either in the park or online now.

Not a member? Register now for FREE access to outdoor and online fitness classes, live guided meditations, wellness videos, recipes and more!

Live Life Get Active is a registered health promotion charity that offers FREE outdoor activity camps and wellbeing and nutritional programmes to help address obesity, diabetes and mental health. Our vision is to build fitter, healthier and happier communities right across Australia. Our in-park offering is supported by a comprehensive digital offering

Sources
https://www.unisa.edu.au/Media-Centre/Releases/2020/when-youre-smiling-the-whole-world-really-does-smile-with-you/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4590528/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23012270/