Smiling and Grinning Helps People Deal with Difficulties

Smiling is apparently our best option of reducing the negative effects that a stressful situation has on our minds and bodies. A team of experts recently demonstrated that the expression “just grin and bear it” is based on scientific facts.

University of Kansas doctoral student Tara Kraft, and expert Sarah Pressman, PhD, conducted the new work, which looked at how different types of smiling influence our ability to recover from stress. Being aware of the smiles proved to be very important as well, PsychCentral reports.

“The next time you are stuck in traffic or are experiencing some other type of stress, you might try to hold your face in a smile for a moment. Not only will it help you ‘grin and bear it’ psychologically, but it might actually help your heart health as well!” Pressman says.