Smiling is usually linked to happiness but do you know it may also help with pain relief?
A recent study in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that people who smiled naturally during a painful task had lower heart rates and felt better emotionally.
The study author Jazlyn H. Luu, a clinical psychology PhD student at UC Irvine, said in a statement, noting, “Facial expressions are a universal means of communication, yet many people rarely pause to consider their deeper significance.”
To study this, researchers examined 57 participants, mostly university students around 20 years old.
They used cold pressor task, a common method for inducing temporary pain in a controlled setting.
Participants placed their non-dominant hand in near-freezing water and were asked to keep it there for as long as they could tolerate.
During the experiment, researchers tracked participants’ heart rates using chest sensors.
They then used special software to detect and measure facial expressions, focusing on smiles.
The results revealed that smiling is linked to how people react to pain.
Participants who naturally smiled at any point during the cold water test had lower heart rates throughout the study.
Luu said, “Surprisingly, many people naturally smile in uncomfortable situations (like pain, but also in unpleasant social situations)! We really wanted to understand why, and our findings pointed to some possible explanations, suggesting that smiling through the discomfort can help both the mind and body to better cope.”
Smiling itself didn’t overall produce positive emotions, but the longer participants smiled, the better they felt after the test.
