When little can be done to help make stressful experiences more tolerable, age-old adages encourage us to just “grin and bear it.” Although smiling might appear too simple to be an effective solution, new research suggests that smiling through stressful situations does have a beneficial impact on physical health.
In our recently published study[1], participants’ heart functioning was monitored while they completed a series of stressful tasks. Throughout the tasks, participants, who were naïve to the purpose of the study, were asked to place a set of chopsticks in their mouths, which produced either 1) a genuine smile, activating muscle groups in the cheek and around the eye; 2) a standard smile, activating muscle groups in the cheek only; or 3) a neutral expression.
Genuine Smile
Standard Smile
Neutral Face
The first stressful task required participants to trace a star with their non-dominant hand while only being able to view a mirror image of the star. They received negative auditory feedback (i.e. a jarring BUZZ!) if they traced outside the lines and reported this task to be incredibly frustrating. The second stressful task simulated a brief painful experience by requiring participants to place a hand in a bucket of ice water for one minute.
While all participants’ showed increased heart rate throughout these stressful experiences, results indicated that those who smiled during the tasks had significantly faster cardiovascular stress recovery after the tasks than individuals who did not smile, which means that their heart rate returned to normal, baseline levels faster after the stressor was over. Cardiovascular stress recovery is an indicator of how long the physiological effects of the stressor endure; thus, faster recovery indicates that the stressful events did not have as much of a lasting impact on smilers as they did on those with a neutral expression.
Furthermore, although it may seem difficult to “fake” a smile under stress when you don’t feel naturally joyful, it may not necessarily be phony the longer you hold your facial muscles in that position. According to the Facial Feedback Hypothesis, we not only smile because we’re happy but the actual activation of the muscles involved in smiling can have an impact on mood, making us happier. Our results confirmed this to be true as well, with smilers maintaining a positive mood throughout the stressful tasks better than the neutral group.
These findings are the first to suggest that smiling through brief stressors, especially painful or frustrating experiences, may help “undo” the harmful effects of the body’s stress response on your heart. In other words, “grin and bear it!” It may be one of the simplest, cheapest, and most effective strategies to manage the curves life throws your way.
About Tara Kraft
Tara Kraft, M.A. is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Kansas.
Her research interests include understanding resilience to minor and major stressors and how positive psychological factors may help.
Reference
[1] Kraft TL, & Pressman SD (2012). Grin and bear it: the influence of manipulated facial expression on the stress response. Psychological science, 23 (11), 1372-8 PMID: 23012270
Tara, great work. I’ve used this many a time with patients albeit with pencils rather than chopsticks—I will now tweak my practice! Anecdotally it works but it is excellent to have some specific data. From my reading and understanding we are looking at a two-way street between body position/facial expression and our mood/feeling. Change your posture and feel different, absolutely. Chop chop!
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It definitely sounds like we in the clinic should attempt to provide a safe environment where the patients maybe can laugh with us – not at us…
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New approach to test in clinic practice. Nice job!
Positive emotions block the neurocircuitry rosponsible for stress?
I wonder if it looked in neuroimaging studies.
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I think smiling makes everything a bit better and this goes towards accepting this is indeed true. Sometimes you don’t feel like smiling but you have to admit you feel a little better afterward. Sometimes it is hard for people suffering with chronic pain to allow themselves to smile for fear that someone seeing them will not believe their pain is real
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