There’s really no better way to show confidence than to smile in the face of…well, anything! When you face adversity, challenges, that coworker or kid at school that is never in a good mood, your smile is your best weapon. There are so many benefits to smiling and now there’s research from the University of Missouri-Kansas City that adds to the list. Here’s what researches at UMKC and other academic institutions have determined:

1. Smiling can make you look younger. In their study, college students perceived happy, smiling older people as looking younger than their age.
2. Smiling can make you look thinner. What? Sign me up!!! The researchers flashed images of smiling people and of sad-faced people and the people with sad faces were perceived as being “heftier”.
3. Smiling elevates your mood and creates a sense of well-being.
4. Smiling induces more pleasure in the brain…even more than chocolate!
5. Even a forced/fake smile can lead to a lift in your mood (hmmm…maybe this is a case for taking selfies?)
6. Smiling gives people the impression that you are nice/courteous.
7. The span of a person’s smile can predict lifespan. Yes! This is a great reason to have a Carlson Orthodontics Smile.
8. Smiling is contagious…in a good way.You can read the entire research article in Psychology Today Magazine HERE.