THE POWER OF A SMILE

The team at a retailer event last year - missing everyone!

Did you know that smiling induces more pleasure in the brain than chocolate?

Ron Gutman, the author of Smile: The Astonishing Powers of a Simple Act, writes that British researchers found one smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate. Even better, it’s zero calories. Behavioural Psychologist Sarah Stevenson, writing in Psychology Today magazine says “Each time you smile you throw a little feel-good party in your brain. The notorious party animals - dopamine, endorphins and serotonin start whooping it up when you smile. And a bonus: those endorphins serve as natural pain relievers”

Smiling has also been found to reduce stress hormones – handy in these crazy times we are living through and a good reason to build some smiles in to your bedtime routine to increase your chances of going to bed feel less anxious and more positive and therefore more likely to have a good night’s sleep

It’s also worth remembering that smiling has a positive knock on effect. When you smile the world really does smile with you. It’s contagious – but in a good way

Even a forced smile has been found to lead to a mood boost. Simply deciding to smile then doing it can provide a positive experience. Which basically means you can decide to smile yourself happier when you need to be

A shame then that smiling becomes rarer as we grow up. On average, children smile around 400 times a day but for adults it’s just around 20 times. The kids have got this one right. Let’s take a leaf out of their book, starting here