A few years ago, researchers from Hanover and Basel caused a sensation with an experiment on “facial feedback”. It demonstrated the extent to which our facial expressions affect our minds: Botox was used to artificially paralyse the frown muscles of a test group of depressed subjects. This reduced the symptoms of their illness by about fifty percent in the following months. This principle of facial feedback is also used when smiling: the laugh muscles signal happiness to our brain, whereupon it releases endorphins, dopamine, natural pain relievers and serotonin. Whether a real smile or an artificial grin, it causes happiness hormones to relax our bodies, calm the heartbeat, lower blood pressure, reduce stress and effectively strengthen our immune system. In addition, smiles are contagious, connect us with others, spread happiness, sympathy and appreciation. They make us more receptive and creative. So there are plenty of good reasons to smile. But what if we don’t feel like smiling? Ron Gutman in his TED Talk “The Hidden Benefits of Smiling” entertainingly describes how we can integrate smiles into our everyday life and use the positive effects for ourselves.
Our conclusion: Smiling is worthwhile and makes you happy – you and the people you meet. That’s why we chose the smile as the most beautiful accessory of the season and cheerfully presented it at the photo shoot for our new collection.
Show us your most beautiful smile and write to us about what has made you smile today. Share your photo and your thoughts with us on Instagram using the hashtag #ragwearsmile and link us @ragwear so that we don’t miss your post!
We wanna see you SMILE :)
