Smile Your Way To a Long and Prosperous Life!

Your Superpower Is Hidden Right Under Your Nose!

If someone told you that you had a superpower, what would you do? You’d use it, I’m pretty certain of that. I would like to reveal to you that you do have a superpower, and it’s hidden right under your nose. Your superpower is your smile!

“I just like to smile, smiling’s my favorite.” – Buddy the Elf

The Power of Smiling is Beyond Incredible- It’s a Superpower

While superpowers are usually associated with fiction and fantasy, the power of a smile is actually a scientifically proven fact based on research. One such study conducted by Ron Gutman found that by measuring smiles of people in photographs you could help predict several things.

1. How fulfilling and long lasting their marriages would be.
2. How high they would score on standardized tests.
3. A person’s well-being and general happiness.
4. How inspiring that person would be to others.

The research revealed that the wider your smile, the higher you ranked in each category listed above. That’s not all though! A 2010 Wayne State University research project examined the baseball cards photos of Major League players in 1952. The study found that the span of a player’s smile could actually predict the span of his life!

Ron Gutman goes on to explain that “smiling is evolutionarily contagious and we have a subconscious innate drive to smile when we see one.” For this reason, a smile plus a frown always equals a smile! In this way, smiling not only benefits our lives, but everyone we interact with. What better lasting impression can we make?

Happiness or Smiling? Which comes first?

Charles Darwin, who in addition to theorizing on evolution in The Origin of the Species, also developed the Facial Feedback Response Theory. The theory suggests that the act of smiling actually makes us feel better, rather than smiling being an effect of feeling good.

This theory is supported by recent studies, including research out of Echnische Universität in Munich Germany. Their scientists measured activity in regions of emotional processing in the brain before and after injecting Botox to suppress smiling muscles. They found that our brain’s circuitry of emotion and happiness is activated when we smile, even when imitating a smile!

Choose Smiling Over Chocolate!

Smiling stimulates our brain’s reward mechanisms to a level that even chocolate can’t match. A study conducted in the UK found that a smile can offer you the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 chocolate bars. 30% of us smile more than 20 times a day, and some children smile up to 400 times daily. Imagine the amount of satisfaction and reward that comes with frequent smiling!

Smiling and a Healthier Life

Unlike lots of chocolate, lots of smiling can actually make you healthier as well. Smiling can reduce your stress levels, lower your blood pressure, improve your immune system, and increase your level of mood enhancing hormones.

Smiling in Attraction & Sensuality

In survey after survey, teeth and smiling consistently rank in the top 3 most desirable attributes in potential dates. In a Match.com survey of 5,500 singles 21 and older, nearly 60 percent of men said they care most about good teeth in a potential date compared to a staggering 71 percent of women who ranked ‘teeth’ as most important!

This comes as no surprise, as other studies have already revealed that faces are judged as being more attractive when smiling. In one 2013 study, faces that were manipulated to be less attractive but smiling were preferred to faces that were manipulated to be more attractive but less smiling. Furthermore, in a 2010 study, it was determined that the smile prevails over other components of facial esthetics such as nose or eyes.

By simply smiling more, we can improve how other people perceive us. At the same time, smiling improves our own happiness, health, and mood. This is the ultimate superpower right? It sounds too good to be true, but beneath the surface it all makes sense. We all want to live long happy lives, and we want to share this with people who are comfortable and confident with themselves. We are wired to be attracted to these features. This simple act of smiling frequently, can dramatically improve our lives from inside to out.

The Power of Your Simple Smile on Others’ Perception Of You

The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) added two other hidden powers of a simple smile on others.

1. Smiling gives you the super ability to look younger than you are! The studies showed that people who smile are perceived younger than those who do not smile! So smile to wipe away those years!
2. Smiling gives you the super ability to look thinner than you are! Research showed that people who were not smiling in photos were perceived as weighing more than they actually do!

A Fake Smile Vs. A Duchenne Smile

There’s a big difference between a fake smile and a genuine smile. French physician, Gullaume Duchenne discovered that a fake smile and a genuine smile are controlled by two very different parts of your brain. A fake or “Say Cheese” smile is controlled by your motor cortex. A genuine smile (later named a Duchenne Smile) fueled by emotion is controlled by the limbic system.

If you’re interested in determining if a smile is fake or genuine look at the eyes of the person smiling! If the smiling person’s eyes smile as well it is a genuine smile. Little to no change in the eyes will accompany a fake smile.

Smile = Success

Genuine smiles are powerful in giving you success in many areas of your life.

1. Sexual Attraction Success – A study called “Happy Guys Finish Last: The Impact of Emotion Expressions on Sexual Attractions” published in Emotion says, “happiness is the most attractive emotion in females.”
2. Smiling Can Lead To Success in Business – Studies have shown that smiling has a significant effect on decision-making, and that happy people are more likely to tackle new goals than unhappy people.
3. Boosting Your Self-Esteem – A smile will help boost your self-esteem, making you feel good about yourself.

Unleashing Your Smile Superpower!

There are plenty of reasons to smile, so don’t let anything hold this back. If you are not smiling because you are hiding your teeth or not confident about your smile, then this could potentially hold you back from your enjoying the full potential that your smile has to offer.

There is no reason to let this continue, with so many options to help improve your smile and give you the confidence to smile everyday. Your teeth do not need to be perfect, but if you are not proud of your smile, it is very unlikely that you will be smiling as much as you should.

Correctly performed, a smile makeover can dramatically improve the appearance of your smile and remove any smile barriers that are holding you back. As with any cosmetic treatment, it’s important that the treatment is conservative and natural. Remember, your smile is the single greatest component of facial esthetics.

If a super powered smile is something you have been wanting, then consider all the many benefits of smiling and the impact this can have on your life. Despite what many will tell you, cosmetic dentistry is not something that many dentists are adequately trained in, so make sure you research your provider carefully and find someone who can help unleash your superpower.