| MS PERSPECTIVES
By Ed Lash
I was watching the news about a year ago and saw an interview with a woman in her mid-90s. They asked her what she attributed her long life to. Her face brightened and she answered, “I have always smiled a lot.”
She may have been on to something.
There is some evidence that smiles and laughter can assist in extending life, strengthening the immune system, defending the body against illness and disease. How? Perhaps just by attracting more friends and fewer enemies!
Way back in the 19th century a French scientist named Guillaume Duchenne posited that a truly joyful smile, in contracting certain facial muscles, may result in positive emotions and happiness. Scientists today have given Duchenne’s name to the kind of smile that erupts spontaneously all over the face when one feels joy or pleasure, as opposed to the forced “social” or “Pan-American” (after the old Pan-Am airlines TV commercials) smile that one usually gives to Department of Motor Vehicles photographers.
Modern research seems to confirm Duchenne’s hypothesis. Researchers at Berkeley recently found that some women whose high school year book photos showed them with Duchenne smiles were much more likely 40 years later to describe themselves as happy than those whose photos showed them wearing a Pan-American smile.
There are two muscle groups involved with smiling. One is the muscle that runs from the cheek bone down to the lip corners of the mouth and can pull these lip corners into a smiling shape. If these are the only muscles activated, a mild or weak (socalled Pan-American) smile occurs. The second pair of muscles encircle the eyes and act independently. Their job is to activate the muscles below the eyes to make the eyes narrow when the smile is more active. A strong and serious (Duchenne) smile activates both muscles and the smile looks more sincere.
We cry at birth, begin smiling at five weeks, and laughing starts between the fourth and fifth months.
It’s interesting to know that five-month old infants show full and strong smiles, including their eye muscles, when approached by their mother, but not when approached by a stranger. And, in future years as young children, they are often told by their grandmothers to “put on a happy face” and “wear a big smile” when meeting someone new because Grandma knew instinctively it would result in a joyful reaction in others.
Research in courtrooms shows that an apology offered with a smile incurs a lesser penalty that an apology without a smile. So Grandma was right!
In addition, telling a joke, or reading or listening to one, may cause you to smile for a long time. At the end of the multiple sclerosis support group I facilitate, I always conclude with a joke.
And listening to music you enjoy will usually prompt you to smile. Smiling is also the best, most attractive way to have your picture taken.
Smiling can also help to be more calm, relaxed, and cheerful at all times. Try this (but not while driving!):
Step 1. While inhaling very slowly and deeply, smile slightly and let your eyes sparkle.
Step 2. Exhale very slowly. As you do so, let your jaw and shoulders go limp and allow all the muscles in your body to relax from the head down to your toes. Feel the tension pass out of your body.
Step 3. Continue smiling slightly and breathing slowly, and go on with whatever you were doing.
The underlying truth, of course, is that smiling is a choice. We choose to be happy and we choose to be sad. When you pay someone a compliment, smile while you are saying it and you will sound happier and more sincere. Also, the cheapest face-lift is a smile! A smile can fill our lives with what is successful, what is cheerful, what is beautiful, etc. With habitual smiling, we can recognize and experience what is good in life and what was enjoyable in the past.
What has all this got to do with MS? The National MS Society recommends a healthy lifestyle to help manage MS, whether you’re on MS medication or not. A healthy lifestyle is the result of a healthy diet, regular exercise, good sleep habits, plus the additional aspects of other good things like regularly listening to music (as published in the June, 2008 issue of Action), smiling, and other lifestyle habits which may be different to each one of us.
In conclusion, let me ask you a question. What is the best, medically approved method of improving your looks? The answer: Smile!
Note: Self-help is not intended to replace medical treatment, but should be used together with the help of all appropriate professionals in a team effort.
Ed Lash is a United Spinal member who lives in Trumbull, Connecticut. For more information, or to order his book (“Multiple Sclerosis – A Patient’s View”) call 203-445-0118 or by e-mail at elash@unitedspinal.org.
