How the smile affects our self-esteem, sucess and hapiness
How the smile affects our self-esteem, sucess and hapiness
A smile is so much more than a matter of sympathy or politeness. It directly influences the way we see ourselves and the way others see us, impacting our mental health, our self-esteem, our success, and our happiness. In short, the smile has a very important weight in our life.
If you have a beautiful smile, you probably don’t think about it too much. However, having an imperfect smile can be a cause of stress and anxiety as people often feel the need to hide that smile.
Below we list the most important reasons why feeling good about your smile is so important:
1. Impacts your Mental Health
One of the most basic needs of any human being is self-esteem, that is, feeling good about yourself. It is vital to our mental health to feel accepted and that we are somehow important to others. The fact that we are not comfortable with smiling leads to low self-esteem and without self-esteem it is difficult to have good relationships with other people.
2. Increases self-esteem
If you feel that your self-esteem can be improved, one of the first steps is to smile. Studies show that smiling, whether genuinely or not, releases endorphins and our body can’t tell the difference between a real smile and a forced smile. These endorphins immediately give us a more positive outlook on life and improve our well-being and even our immune system.
3. Increases happiness
There are several studies that show that a beautiful smile is not only linked to self-esteem, but also to happiness in people’s lives. People with beautiful smiles are more confident, less anxious and enjoy life better. When you have a beautiful smile, you can talk and laugh without fear and enjoy the happiness that comes with it. Unfortunately, people who don’t like their smile often simply avoid smiling.
4. Influences our success and the image others have of us
Having a below average smile can affect your success, confidence and make you less sociable in the eyes of others. A beautiful smile makes a person more attractive, more trustworthy and approachable. That is, the smile affects the way other people see us. A big smile can help you be warmer and more open with other people. On the contrary, hiding a smile or having an unpleasant smile can make people not feel so good in your presence.
5. Increases others’ self-esteem and happiness
The power of the smile does not end here. Smiling at others not only makes us feel better about ourselves and life in general, but it also helps others in the same way. When we smile at someone in a warm and genuine way, we convey to that person that we consider them pleasant, friendly, safe and that we esteem them. This makes that person feel good about themselves and with us. But beyond that, typically that person smiles back. This is because we have mirror neurons in our brain that make us imitate other people’s facial expressions. Thus, when we smile we make others smile and with the consequent release of endorphins and all their positive effects.