Clinical psychologists Dr. Steven Taketa and Dr. Analu Sing, with the Mental Health Clinic at UH West Oʻahu, offer monthly mental health tips to students, faculty, and staff to cope through COVID-19 and these trying times:
One simple way to help combat stress? Smiling! “The Health Benefits of Smiling,” an SCLHealth.org article, states: “They say it takes more muscles to frown than to smile, and although there’s no hard evidence to support that, we do know that smiling comes with some real-life benefits. It’s not always the easiest thing to do, especially after a long and stressful day. But if you can take it upon yourself to crack a smile, you’ll actually feel better.”
According to the article, the benefits of smiling are plentiful. One study suggests smiling can help us to recover faster from stress and even reduce our heart rate. It can boost our mood and happiness level. Another study suggests we can’t help but to react with a smile back when someone is smiling — an infectious loop of happiness.
The article also states that positive emotions in the workplace can help to invigorate the atmosphere, while negative moods tend to have the opposite effect. Another study links decision-making, processing, and learning to the release of dopamine triggered by happiness, so smiling can help with creativity and efficiency in the workplace. So flash those pearly whites!