Go on and grin

Laughter helps alleviate pain, and now research shows that grinning and bearing it actually helps decrease stress and is good for your ticker. If you can hold a smile through a stressful moment, say, for example, you’re seated next to a woman who’s spending an entire flight plucking out her grey hairs and neatly saving them on a sheet of paper (!!!), your heart rate will be slower after recovering from the stressful moment than if you didn’t smile.

(The study, which will be published in Psychological Science, showed that the more genuine your smile, the greater the stress-relieving benefits for your heart — but even just a faux grin using just your mouth and not smiling with your eyes, too, offers benefits).

Smile on.

1 Comment August 2, 2012