If you’re looking for some reasons to smile more, the favorable results that can come from flexing your facial muscles may be enough to convince you. Besides helping you to show off your good looks and confidence, smiling can actually chemically improve your feelings of well-being and your body’s ability to function properly. When in doubt, don’t forget to flash the universally-understood means for communicating happiness and contentment.

Looking at the Many Benefits of Smiling
Showing Confidence and Kindness
When you smile, particularly when you smile wide enough to show your teeth, you non-verbally communicate confidence and self-esteem. The pleasant facial expression can seamlessly express your contentment with life in that moment. When you’re comfortable with yourself and what you’re doing, it’s easy to smile while interacting with others and going about your day. When you’re interviewing for a job, meeting a new client, going on a blind date or otherwise trying to make a great first impression, don’t forget that a confident smile can help others recognize what you have going for you.

Having a gentle smile plastered on your face can also help show your kindness, compassion and care. Smiling as you pay the cashier, pass a stranger in the hallway or wait for the pedestrian to cross the street in front of you can often be the easiest means for demonstrating your civility and interest in the human family. Instead of mindlessly rushing from one task to another with your head down, see how many smiles you can share on the way and how many simple, positive exchanges come from such an effortless gesture.
Increasing Your Approachability and Attractiveness
If you’ve noticed that a frightful scowl just isn’t getting the job done when you want to playfully get someone’s attention from across a restaurant, consider implementing a bright smile instead. Such a move can help confirm the message you want to be sending: “I come in peace.” Smiling helps you seem approachable and can help encourage others who want to come up to talk to you but aren’t sure if they will be warmly received.

Since smiling opens up your face and helps you happily glow, the gesture can increase your attractiveness overall. There’s something undeniably warm and appealing about seeing someone who’s happy and having a good time. Whether you’re looking to meet someone special or keep someone special, smiling can increase your chances of success. Coming across as attractive and friendly can be important not only in romantic relationships, but also in friendships and acquaintanceships at large. Being considered positive and likable can help strengthen all kinds of relations.

Improving Your Outlook and Emotional State
Flashing a grin not only makes you look happier, it can also make you feel happier. Psychologists have observed that physically forcing yourself to smile, even when you don’t emotionally feel like doing so, can actually result in the same positive brain activity. When you flex your muscles in order to smile, your body actually releases endorphins, which chemically help lower your stress levels, improve your state of happiness and act as a natural painkiller.

Since the brain doesn’t distinguish between fake smiles and sincere ones, you can experience these positive benefits of smiling simply by making a conscious effort to smile more. Whether something good or bad is going on, you can improve your circumstances by choosing to grin or to laugh.

Strengthening Your Body and Boosting Your Immune System
Smiling, particularly when in conjunction with laughing, can actually provide a wide-variety of benefits to your body. Your lungs and abdominal muscles get in a workout while the dilation of blood vessel lining can even help improve your blood flow for cardiovascular health. Decreasing your anxiety as well, it’s no wonder why laughter is commonly referred to as “the best medicine.”

Additionally, laughter can actually boost your immune system by increasing the number of antibody-producing cells that you have in operation. The audible expression of joy can also enhance the effectiveness of other cells related to your body’s ability to protect against infection and disease for further positive results.

How to Start Smiling and Laughing More
Letting Your Positive Feelings Show
If you don’t normally smile and laugh a lot, forcing yourself to arbitrary smile at everyone you see in every situation possible can seem insincere and undesirable. But, you actually don’t need to go overboard with smiling in order to experience the positive results.

If you’ve trained yourself to hide your emotions, start out your new approach to life by simply letting yourself smile when you feel happy, hear a funny joke or see something that you like. As time goes by, your willingness to smile at the good things all around you will likely increase.

Overcoming Insecurities So They Don’t Get In Your Way
When you have dental problems or facial insecurities, you may feel intimidated by the smiling process. If you’re self-conscious about something like crooked teeth or colored dental fillings, flashing a wide-open smile may not be an act you’ve ever been comfortable with. Similarly, if you don’t like the way your eyes look small when you’re smiling big or the way that certain wrinkles become more pronounced, you may naturally shy away from letting yourself look happy.
Everyone has insecurities, but there’s no reason to let them stand in your way of living your life.

Despite physical imperfections, happy smiles are always gorgeous so let your inner light glow for all the world to see. Smile freely and smile often–it’s a happy way to live!  

Source: Healthdigests.com