Smile Babe and Dude

Smiling actually stimulates our brain more than chocolate, a well regarded pleasure inducer.

“In a study conducted in the UK (using an electromagnetic brain scan machine and heart-rate monitor to create “mood-boosting values” for various stimuli), British researchers found that one smile can provide the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 chocolate bars; they also found that smiling can be as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 Pounds Sterling in cash. That’s 25 grand a smile!”

smiles… better than chocolate!?!

Smiling has documented therapeutic effects that have shown to reduce stress hormones, increased health and mood enhancing hormone levels (like endorphins), and lowered blood pressure.

Perhaps the one of the most amazing benefits that smiling offers is that of pain relief.  ”Remembering that laughter has powerful benefits should get you smiling. In fact, psychoneuroimmunology is a field of research dedicated to deciphering the relationship between human behavior (in this case, laughing) and the mind, and how it affects the immune system .”

“White blood cells that seem to respond positively to laughter arelymphocytes, which originate in bone marrow and include B cells (to fight infections) and T cells (to attack viruses and manage immune responses) [sources: National Cancer Institute,Pattillo and Itano]. Interferon-gamma levels have also been shown to increase with laughter (interferons assist immunological responsiveness and deter tumor growth) .‪”

So the next time you find yourself in pain, depressed, or low in health give yourself a smile!