One of the best ways to relax is to smile, even if you don’t fell like smiling. Because we’ve gone through years of smiling when happy, our subconscious is conditioned to always pair the act of smiling with feeling happy. This is what I’ve read for years, and it does work … to a point.
A German study has shown that smiling at work when under job stress can do you more harm than good, because you have to go through long periods of being someone you’re not. Scientist Dieter Zapf for two years studied 4000 human guinea pigs working at a fake customer service call center. How he measured stress was by monitoring their heart rates. (Even though call center workers can’t see the people they’re talking to, they are often instructed to smile, anyway). The more stressed a worker was, their heart beat faster and the easier they got tired.
Have A Rotten Day
Dr. Zapt suggests what we probably know already — that by covering up your true feelings, you are going to eventually make yourself sick. His suggestion was quite practical, that "professional smilers" (those in the service industry) get breaks where they can frown and rant all they want.
This study backs up a previous study done in Japan (a land known for good manners and where employees are encourages to smile all of the time). An Osaka University study released in February showed that people who have to wear "smile masks" all day are on the road to bad health. The study also went on to show that women have a harder time not smiling than men (the scientists have never met anyone from my family).
Professional smilers have what’s being known as "smile syndrome", where you get tension type headaches, neck strain and other aches and pains — because you’re forced to smile when you really don’t want to.
What To Do?
If you live with a professional smiler, encourage them to frown and complain when they are at home. If you do work in retail, call centers or any type of customer service industry, don’t be upset if you go to the break room and your co-workers are grumpy and snarling. When I worked in retail, a good five minutes of grumpiness helped clean out bad feelings from previous customers and helped you get ready to face more.
But don’t overdo it! When you are at home, you do need to relax with non-chemical methods like listening to music, meditating, breathing exercises, tai chi or even having a nice foot soak. As with most everything else in life, you need to find a balance, including how long and when you smile.
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2 Comments
Write a Comment»I used to work in a callcenter and that is what they always told us to do, smile, smile, smile. I can still hear the manager saying exactly that at every single morning meeting. It was stressful just trying to smile that much and I hated that job more than any other I had. After I quit, I smiled a lot more
I bet you did! You’re probably feeling a lot healthier, too. Thanks for taking the time to comment.