Do you like to see the eyes of the people you meet light up? Of all the expressions a human face can express, a genuine smile is one of the most attractive. He moves with his sincerity and enchants with the positive emotions he transmits.
A smile is the shortest distance between two people. An authentic smile is able to move with its sincerity and enchant with the positive emotions it transmits. The authentic smile has been studied for many years because it has particularly powerful beneficial effects.
We have some “mirror neurons” one of whose functions is to help us enter into empathy with the people around us (functions that help us, in society, to function in a symbiotic way).
To smile is to let your inner light filter through
So when a stranger smiles at you, those mirror neurons fire up and, like a reflex, you smile back. Better this smile leads to the production ofendorphins (molecules of well-being) in your body and makes you happy.
endorphins are molecules released by the brain, more specifically by the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. The activity that releases the most endorphins is undoubtedly physical activity. It is actually a kind of natural morphine produced by the body. Once secreted, it disperses in the central nervous system, in the tissues and in the blood.
Often the people who inspire us are those who are naturally smiling. We are not talking about the occasional smile or the social smile. No, we are talking about the authentic smile, the one that comes from the heart.
What is an authentic smile?
the genuine smile is the spontaneous expression of happiness. It’s the smile that makes the eyes sparkle. While the forced smile (or social smile) uses only the muscles of the mouth, a genuine smile is perceived in the eyes which become sparkling and narrow (like flattened), and in the cheeks which raise slightly.
To differentiate a sincere smile from a social smile, it suffices toobserve the eyes of the person in front of you. IN the 19th century, the neurologist William Duchenne of Boulogne studied the facial expressions that convey emotions.
By performing electrical stimulation on the muscles of the face, he highlighted the movements associated with the expression of emotions. He thus showed that the smiles expressing genuine joy differ from smiles forced by a muscular contraction at the level of the eye.
The secret to an authentic smile
Forced smiles can resemble genuine smiles in many ways. But we can learn to identify them because they are caused by the stimulation of distinct muscles, controlled by different parts of the brain.
Forced smiles correspond first to a contraction of the major zygomatic muscles and are controlled by the conscious part of the brain. The authentic smile is initiated by the unconscious part of the brain and will contract, in addition, the orbicular muscles.
These are the muscles that correspond to the “crow’s feet” around the eyes, that is to say all the small wrinkles and creases that form between the eye and the temple. A sincere and genuine smile is thus called a “Duchenne smile”.
Even a forced smile can make you happy
When we are happy, we smile. But do This relationship also works the other way around ? Can the act of smiling make us happier? This is a hypothesis that has long been discussed by scientists.
Since the 1980s, very serious studies* have shown that expressing an emotion via bodily expressions (particularly facial expressions) would reinforce these emotions.
The idea is very simple: the more your face expresses an emotion, the more the brain activates the processes responsible for this emotion. In other words, the more you smile, the happier you are.
*Scientific American-Smile! It Could Make You Happier
