Happy? Fake it ‘til you make it

Smile. Even if you don’t feel it yet, you will.

Perhaps most apropos of today’s National Smile Day is a 2020 University of South Australia study published in the journal Experimental Psychology. It found that simply moving your facial muscles to form a smile — even if you’re faking it — generates positive emotions and lifts mood, at least for a while.

It’s kind of like tricking your brain. Just as physical therapy’s simple repetitions can do all kinds of body magic, exercise works for the mind, too.

In this case, by using facial muscles.

“When your muscles say you’re happy, you’re more likely to see the world around you in a positive way,” said lead researcher Dr. Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos.

Science backs the “as if” approach. While we’re used to being told mental outlook affects our physical state, research is confirming the connection also goes the other way, body-to-mind.

Consider two examples from an Ohio State University study in 2003: When participants simply nodded in agreement or shook their heads to signal disagreement, and measured their opinions later, they were surprised to learn the head movements impacted their opinions. The same study also showed when participants hugged themselves, some were able to reduce how much pain they felt.

Dutch behavioral scientist Erik Peper studied movement’s effects on happiness. He concluded better posture (sitting up straight) led to participants reporting more positive memories and responses than did those with poor posture.

Researchers have long known that slumped shoulders and focus on disappointments release a cocktail of chemicals into the bloodstream that make us feel even worse. In short, when we “act as if,” positive or negative, the rest of the body/mind apparently follows suit.

Simply improving body posture, slowing and deepening breathing patterns to reduce muscle tension, or changing facial and even verbal expressions release a surge of “good” chemicals that can change our internal state, and make us feel better emotionally.

Just like smiling.

New York-based neurologist Dr. Isha Gupta’s research, reported by NBC in 2017, also found that the mere act of smiling boosts the body’s levels of the feel-good hormones dopamine and serotonin. Conversely, low serotonin levels are correlated with depression and aggression.

The University of South Australia experiment illustrated how a “fake” smile can affect how we can perceive the faces and body language of others.

A smile was induced in participants by holding a pen between their teeth, forcing their facial muscles to replicate the movement of a smile. They and the non-pen-smilers were shown videos with all kinds of facial expressions and body movements. The pen-smilers interpreted the expressions and movements of others as more positive, compared to the “no-pen” group.

Why?

Even a fake smile stimulates the amygdala, the brain’s emotion center, releasing neurotransmitters that make us feel emotionally positive. The research suggests that if the brain can be tricked into perceiving stimuli as happy, it may be an additional tool to help anxiety or depression.

Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert, author of the 2006 bestseller “Stumbling on Happiness,” shared the results of his and others’ research review with the Harvard Business Review in 2012. He says most of us make the same mistakes in imagining how happy or unhappy things will make us. In short, we tend to overestimate the power of big events, and underestimate the happiness influence of the small things.

The upshot: While big things can make us happy, it’s the small things that keep us happy. Like smiling.

Yes, people in romantic relationships feel happier — although it’s more fleeting than we often expect. And it’s true that people who aren’t poor or sick feel happier. No surprise that fewer major struggles make life easier.

But what we tend to overestimate, says Gilbert, are the events. The new job, the A on a final exam, the promotion, the boat, the better house. Those happy feelings last a few days to a few months. Even new relationships, in most cases, aren’t the be-all happiness predictors we imagine they’ll be.

On the flip side, we’re also resilient. People are pretty adept at finding silver linings after tragedies. Losing a job or career can lead to a more fitting one with less stress, and so on. Personal loss may also bring transformative reflection, a focus on what’s most important.

Gilbert says if there is one outer predictor of more lasting happiness, it’s social. Man is relationship oriented. We need community, whether that community is friends, family, work, volunteering, the greater planet to connect with — whatever. Without nurturing that element, happiness is a lot harder to gain or sustain.

And day to day, it’s about the small stuff.

Psychologist, University of Utah professor and editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Ed Diener amassed a wealth of knowledge on the topic of happiness. He writes that research proves the daily frequency of positive experiences is a much better predictor of happiness than the intensity of those experiences.

In other words, giving more hugs, really enjoying that french fry, or just listening to morning birdsong (and yes, smiling) as many times as possible each day is more likely to make and keep us happy than any of the big events.

“In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.” — Kahlil Gibran

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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network who needed the reminder today. Email Sholeh@cdapress.com.