World Smile Day (October 7) is a relatively new holiday with an intriguing backstory. It falls on the first Friday of October. This day was created by commercial artist Harvey Ball in reaction to his invention of the happy face. Harvey was concerned that the symbol's significance would be diminished by its commercialization. He probably had a high opinion of the sign because it has been used on so many different things, such as clothing, comic books, coffee cups, pins, and more. These tiny yellow faces make a statement about the power of smiling rather than just serving as a sign.

Sometimes all it takes to brighten your day is a smile, whether it comes from someone else or comes from you both. If someone has had a bad day, small acts of kindness can make them smile brightly and alter the course of everything that happens after. World Smile Day invites you to take action to spread a few more smiles around the world, whether it's just straightforward praise, a cheerful hello, or a gift of something little to help brighten your day.

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Do you find it challenging to pretend to smile? Not to worry. Just be around someone who is happy. According to a Swedish study, it can be challenging to maintain a serious expression when looking at someone who is grinning back at you. Smiling spreads like wildfire! Our mirror neurons are stimulated when we see smiles, which causes us to relax our facial muscles and produce a grin. The statement "You smile, I smile" is supported by science!

Additionally, smiling lowers anxiety and improves your health by bringing down your blood pressure and heart rate. According to estimates, a grin can make our brains feel as happy as receiving £16,000 or eating 2,000 bars of chocolate. So, to be joyful, we don't need money or chocolate. All it takes is one smile!

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What is therefore happening in our brains when we smile? Consider a happy circumstance, such as running into an old buddy on the subway. Endorphins are created and neuronal signals are sent to your facial muscles to cause a grin when our brains are content. The happy positive feedback loop has begun with this. Our brains receive a signal from our muscles when we smile, which activates the reward center and raises the level of the feel-good chemical endorphins in our bodies. In other words, we smile when our brain is happy and our brain is happy when we smile.

Make it up as you go along! Yes, all you need to do to feel joyful is grin. We can change our brain's emotional processing pathway to feel happier with a simple smile thanks to the positive feedback loop of smiling.

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Have you ever tried using your teeth to grasp a pencil? Researchers have established that deliberately working out our orbicularis oculi and zygomaticus major muscles can actually improve our mood. How? Simply said, it is like holding a pencil between your teeth.