Sometimes when my friends and I are feeling saucy, we'll pose for photos with fake smiles. You know, the forced half-smiles that little kids do? These photos always make us laugh. And here's maybe why...
The results of this fascinating study, to be published in the journal Psychological Science, says that if you force yourself to smile, you're lowering your heart rate and reducing stress. An upturned facial expression lowers the level of cortisol, a stress-related hormone. The smile doesn't even need to be genuine.
This is pretty wild, because traditionally, we've been made to believe that feeling good makes us smile. When in fact, smiling makes us feel good.
So let's put these findings to use, shall we? Go put on a happy face!
{Pre-edited image via Vanity Project}
