Improve your mood in 30 seconds

There are 19 different ways of smiling. Eighteen of them will not make you happier. (Klein, 7, 20) The nineteenth smile, however, called the Duchenne smile, can improve your mood in less than 30 seconds.

Use the technique below to relax your body, create a true Duchenne smile and adopt the posture of happiness. These physical cues tell your brain that you are happy, and your brain will quickly respond by making you feel happier.

The Duchenne smile is the only genuine smile. The other 18 ways of smiling are all masks that we use to hide our true feelings. This is why the Duchenne smile is the only one that cheers you up: the others are not genuine displays of happiness.

The corners of the lips curl upward in all 19 types of smiles, but only the Duchenne smile includes a contraction of the orbicularis oculi, the circular muscle that surrounds the eye (Klein, 8). In the Duchenne smile, the eyes narrow slightly, forming small wrinkles at the corners of the eyes, and the upper half of the cheeks rise. This contraction of the orbicularis oculi is a natural sign of joy.

Your brain constantly sends signals to your body to control your bodily functions, and your body constantly sends signals to your brain about the status of your body.

You can’t control your emotions directly (telling yourself to feel happy simply does not work), but you can control your muscles. When you assume and hold expressions of happiness, your body sends signals to your brain telling it that you are happy, and your brain responds by making you feel happier.

The three most noticeable signs of happiness - and the three that we can most easily control - are:

1. The Duchenne smile: the corners of the mouth and the upper half of the cheeks rise and the eyes narrow slightly, forming wrinkles at the corners of the eyes.
2. The forehead, shoulders, arms and hands relax.
3. We sit up straighter and raise our chins higher than we would if we were depressed.

Only about 10% of people have enough muscular control to create a Duchenne smile on command (Klein, 8-9). However, the technique below makes it easy for everyone to form a true Duchenne smile and assume the other physical signs of happiness - even when they do not feel like smiling.

Step 1: Relax your muscles, especially your forehead and shoulders. Maintain this relaxation throughout the exercise. This may require you to return your attention to your forehead and shoulders every few seconds to relax them, depending on how tense you are.

Step 2: Smile gently, as you would in response to a touching moment or humorous photo. You only need a slight upward curve to your lips and a slight crinkling of the eyes. That is the beginning of a Duchenne smile, and it is sufficient to begin the process of improving your mood. Do not smile more than feels comfortable; forcing a smile will change your expression into one of the 18 masks that will not make you happier.

Step 3: Freeze your facial muscles in place. Maintain the slight smile, including the crinkling of the eyes, throughout the rest of the exercise. If you lose the smile, repeat steps one and two to form a new one.

Step 4: Straighten your back and lift your chin slightly above where it feels comfortable. This posture tells your mind that you are confident and energetic (whereas slouching signals depression). As your mood improves, it will become easier to keep your chin lifted and back straight.

Step 5: Hold this posture and facial expression for at least 30 seconds, longer if you are in a bad mood.

Subtle changes in your body and brain will begin almost immediately. You will feel a sudden and noticeable improvement in your mood within 15-30 seconds if you were in a neutral mood when you began or within three minutes if you began in a foul mood.

Your mood will become progressively brighter if you continue the Duchenne smile and the other physical cues of happiness. When you stop, your mood will stabilize at that improved state.

Klein, Stefan. The Science of Happiness. Trans. Stephen Lehmann. New York: Marlowe & Company, 2006.

© 2011 Jenna Harris