7 Fascinating Facts About Smiles

7 Fascinating Facts About Smiles

As a company dedicated to improving the health and overall appearance of smiles, we understand just how important a good smile is. I mean, it’s a major social response that we rely on to know when we’re in good standing with someone or to show that we are happy (or at least not so pissed that we’re unable to smile).

As smile connoisseurs, we started wondering if there weren’t some zany or fascinating facts out there that reinforce the normality behind our obsession. Sure enough, much to our relief, there are! Check out our 7 favorite facts that we found about smiles.

  • Say “Cheese” and Be Happy: A UC Berkeley 30-year longitudinal study examined students’ smiles from an old yearbook. Researchers measured their happiness and success throughout their lives. They found that the widest smilers consistently ranked highest in overall happiness and success throughout the 30 year period.
  • Put Down That Mascara: Orbit Complete conducted a study that showed 69% of people find women more attractive when they smile barefaced than when they are wearing makeup and not smiling.
  • Hit a Homerun: A 2010 Wayne State University research project looked into baseball card photos from 1952’s MLB players. Consistently, they found the span of a player’s smile actually predicted how long they would live. Non-smiling players averaged 72.9 years, where players with big smiles lived an average of 79.9 years.
  • Smile Varietals: Did you know there are 19 distinct types of smiles? A UCSF researcher found 19 types of smiles which fell into two categories: polite “social” smiles and sincere “felt” smiles. The sincere smiles utilized a greater amount of facial muscles than the polite smiles.
  • Commonly Seen Grinning: Smiling is a culturally universal means of communicating. It also is a super frequent one. Over 30% of people smile more than 20 times per day. Not surprisingly, kids smile the most with grins coming in at up to 400 times per day!
  • A Happy Contagion: In two separate studies conducted by a Swedish University, researchers found that when people see someone else smile they have less control over their own facial muscles and are more prone to smile as a result. Why? Scientists believe it is an evolutionary reality within our biology to return a smile. It's so ingrained that it happens with strangers too, even if we have no intention of socially engaging with that person.
  • That Grin Looks Good: A study performed by Penn State confirmed that when we smile we not only appear more likable, but we are also perceived to be more competent. Something to think about when you’re stressed at work and see your boss.
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