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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Cincinnati chapter.

 

Smiling has a very positive impact on your brain and it can improve your mood along with others throughout the day! When walking across campus, many people look down and do not interact with you, but I challenge you to smile and make someone’s day. Here are seven reasons why you should smile!! :)

 

1. You’re much better looking when you smile

Obviously, there are many ways to make yourself look better. There are expensive and inexpensive ways to make yourself look good, but the cheapest way is to smile. I promise you that it will make you look more attractive towards your peers.

 

2. Smiling is contagious 

If you smile in a room and someone looks at you while you are smiling, they can’t help but smile back. There are studies that show that people like to mimic each other’s faces and that is why smiles are contagious. So, if you’re smiling at someone, it’s likely they can’t help but smile back.

 

3. People treat you better

Smiling signals many social cues when in social environments such as; happy, friendly and excited. When someone sees a smiling face, they see them as approachable, caring, relatable and understanding. People will treat you with more positive interactions such as kindness and love when smiling.

 

4. Smiling is a form of stress relief

This is crazy but smiling is a stress reliever. When you smile there are chemicals in one’s body that release to destress. Just take a moment and smile right now. Your heart rate will decrease along with blood pressure.

 

5. You live longer

Recent studies have shown that you will live longer if you smile! There was a study published in 2017 where researchers gathered photos of over two-hundred MLB players who played in 1952. They were sorted based on whether the player had a genuine smile or no smile along with when these players died. In conclusion the study proved that players with a real smile in photos lived longer than non-smilers.

 

6. Smiling boosts your immune system

Smiling creates good health and blocks out the negative thoughts. Sometimes, we can’t help the negative thoughts from coming into our head and they turn into chemical reactions, affecting your body equaling more stress which decreases immune system. Where on the other hand, smiling and being positive can release neuropeptides that help fight stress and serious illnesses equaling a better immune system. 

As many say, “laughter is the best medicine.”

 

7. Smiling makes you stay positive

When the body releases neuropeptides that fight stress, it is really hard to be negative. It is really hard to turn a smile into a frown.

 

So, let’s turn that frown upside down and smile! I promise it will make you feel so much better no matter what you have going on in your life. 

 

Erin Evans

Cincinnati '22

Erin is a current student at the University of Cincinnati.
Emma Segrest

Cincinnati '22

Emma is a current Creative Writing and Journalism major at the University of Cincinnati and works as the Editorial Captain for Her Campus UC. When she is not writing she can be found reading Jane Austen or tending to her plants.