From April 1! 10 facts about smiling and laughing

Dear readers! The editors of our blog sincerely congratulate you on the Day of Laughter and offer you this small selection of facts about smile and laughter.

The mirror image of a smile.

A smile is very contagious. Smile at a passerby and he will smile back. Scientist Ruth Campbell believes that there is a mirror neuron in the brain, which means that a person automatically copies the facial expression that he sees in front of him. Science has proven that the more often you smile, the more positively others react to you.

Wrinkles at the corners of the eyes.

With a sincere, honest, joyful smile, small wrinkles are born in the corners of the eyes. A fake and insincere smile stretches only the cheeks. Pay attention to the eyes when they smile at you.

The smile in the photo.

Before taking pictures, photographers are asked to say the famous "Chi-I-I-z". At this moment, our cheeks stretch and we really smile, but, as mentioned earlier, not with our eyes. While taking pictures, standing with the camera, smile yourself, remembering the mirror neuron (a funny memory :)) and say something more original.

A smile can be imitated without consequences.

Most people can't tell a fake smile from a real smile. It is believed that a smile is a weapon of liars, i.e. a person who smiles often probably lies. In fact, this is not quite true. Australian customs officers looked through records with people passing the border and noticed that illegal immigrants, smugglers, criminals smile much less often. And who will smile at the customs officer's question "Did you drop the package with cocaine"?

Why can't monkeys laugh and talk?

Because they are not Urgant and not Martirosyan, surely Van came to mind. And you're absolutely right. Chimpanzees are not human and they cannot physically reproduce speech. They can't even tell a verbal joke on April 1. But walking in an upright position would save the monkeys, as they would have the ability to control breathing. Therefore, the monkeys just smile and wave.

Laughter softens the pain.

Scientists have proven that those who laugh live longer. We know that! We also know about the experience of the 80s of the last century, when a couple of American hospitals created "Laughter Rooms". Humorous books, audio and video cassettes were collected in these rooms, and comedians also came to visit. The result: patients were discharged faster, most of them had a significantly improved state of health, the number of painkillers taken by patients decreased. Smile to your health!

It's more interesting to smile and laugh together.

People laugh and smile less often when they are alone. And this is not only due to the lack of jokes. Scientist Robert Provine noticed that only 15% of laughter is associated with jokes, even April Fools' jokes. A smile and laughter often arise precisely in the process of discussing funny things, and not just when viewing. When alone, a person most often talks to himself, and laughs to himself less often than with a stranger who happened to be watching a new movie with Jim Carrey.

Female smiling is inherent in the brain by nature.

People who tend to be submissive are more likely to smile in the presence of those who dominate them. For example, in the presence of the director. The bosses, on the contrary, smile at subordinates only in friendly circumstances. Both men and women smile at work. A woman at such moments looks submissive and weak, when compared with unsmiling and harsh men. There is an opinion that this is the result of the historical subordinate position of women. However, already at the age of eight months, girls smile more often than young representatives of the stronger sex. Scientist Nancy Hanley calls a woman's smile a "peacemaker's sign" used to subdue more powerful men. During communication, girls smile 26% more often.

Smile and love.

According to Harvard research, women laugh at men they like, and men are attracted to the same women. Maybe that's why a sense of humor occupies one of the first places among the attractive qualities of a man for a woman. Through the eyes of a man, a woman does not have to tell jokes even on April 1, it's enough to laugh at his jokes. A man who has a good sense of humor is more attractive to most women.

Laughter through tears.

Ask a psychologist and he will tell you that laughter and crying are very similar. Remember when you laughed at a very funny joke or an April Fool's prank so much that you stopped controlling yourself. What did you feel afterwards? A slight tingling sensation all over my body, right? This is due to the release of endorphins and you felt uplifted, joy. According to Paul Ekman, we are attracted to smiling and cheerful people because they can really affect our nervous system. When we see a smiling person, we smile back, and the brain produces endorphin.