Your Smile — A Gift to Share

WHEN someone gives you a beaming smile, how do you respond?
Most likely you smile back. And you probably feel happier too.
Yes, genuine smiles—whether from friends or total strangers—are infectious, and they evoke good feelings.
A woman named Magdalena commented: “Georg, my late husband, had a warm smile. When our eyes met, I felt relaxed and secure.”

A sincere smile indicates positive emotions, such as amusement, happiness, and pleasure.
Indeed, “smiling . . . seems built into our nature,” noted an article in Observer, an online journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Even newborns, the article said, are able to “interpret facial expressions with great precision.”
The article also stated: “Not only do people deduce useful information from smiles, they also use this knowledge to direct their own behavior.”*

Researchers at Harvard University in the United States studied a group of elderly patients and their responses to the facial expressions of health-care providers.
When the caregivers’ facial expressions “were perceived as more warm, caring, concerned, and empathetic,” said the researchers, the patients felt more satisfied and their physical and mental well-being improved.
The opposite was the case when the caregivers’ nonverbal communications distanced them from patients.

When you smile you may also be doing yourself a favor.
The benefits, studies suggest, include increased confidence and happiness and reduced feelings of stress.
Frowning, by comparison, may have the opposite effect.