Does Smiling Increase Longevity?

Yes, there’s evidence that suggests that smiling does increase longevity.  Also, ancient Taoists in China studied which was the highest form of laughter.  Their answer – a heartfelt smile!

Excerpts from the video above.

“I started my journey in California with a UC Berkley 30-year longitudinal study that examined the photos of students in an old yearbook and tried to measure their success and well-being throughout their life. By measuring their student smiles, researchers were able to predict how fulfilling and long-lasting a subject’s marriage will be, how well she would score on standardized tests of well-being and how inspiring she would be to others…

Another aha! moment came from a 2010 Wayne State University research project that looked into pre-1950s baseball cards of Major League players. The researchers found that the span of a players smile could actually predict the span of his life. Players who didn’t smile in their pictures lived an average of only 72.9 years, where players with beaming smiles lived an average of almost 80 years.”

This is what a LA Times article on March 29 2010 had to say on this subject.

“People who smile a lot are usually happier, have more stable personalities, more stable marriages, better cognitive skills and better interpersonal skills, according to research. Science has just uncovered another benefit of a happy face. People who have big smiles live longer.”

The original study”Smile Intensity in Photographs Predicts Longevity” can be found here.

Click here to go to the original page from which this video was taken.