Smiling involves how many muscles

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When you select "Subscribe" you will start receiving our email newsletter. Use the links at the bottom of any email to manage the type of emails you receive or to unsubscribe. See our privacy policy for additional details. Welcome to the Visible Body Blog! Not so fast. The science behind a fake smile Even if you're not actually happy, activating the muscles associated with smiling can fool your brain into thinking you are.

Subscribe Here! By: Tom Scheve Updated: Apr 8, You've likely been told or read in a forwarded e-mail that it takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown, and that, in light of this fact, you should smile more often. There are quite a few numbers that get tossed around when this line is used. Some claim it takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but open Aunt Milda's chain letter and you might be surprised to learn it takes 26 to smile and 62 to frown.

And some naysayers claim it's quite the opposite, that in fact it takes more muscles to smile than to frown. When we make facial expressions, we're essentially transmitting a packet of information that can be received, read and interpreted by others. By contracting or expanding our facial muscles in different degrees and combinations, we can produce thousands of different messages that provide cues to our overall emotional state, our short-term feelings about our immediate environment, our mental well-being, our personality and mood, our physical health, our creditability and whether or not we view others as being creditable.

The smile -- transmitted either consciously or subconsciously -- is viewed across cultures as a sign of friendliness, especially when greeting someone. Frowns, too, are generally recognized as indicating sadness or disapproval. There are 43 muscles in the face, most of which are controlled by the seventh cranial nerve also known as the facial nerve. This nerve exits the cerebral cortex and emerges from your skull just in front of your ears.

It then splits into five primary branches: temporal, zygomatic, buccal, mandibular and cervical. These branches reach different areas of the face and enervate muscles that allow the face to twist and contort into a variety of expressions. However, nobody has really come up with a definitive number for how many muscles it takes to smile or frown -- one person's smile is another person's smirk.

Also, not everyone has the same number of facial muscles; some have more, enabling a wider range of expression, while some people actually have 40 percent fewer [source: Devlin].

The truth is that people smile -- and frown -- differently, even when presented with similar stimuli. Some images are of models, not actual patients. Sitemap Privacy Policy Login. More Contact Info. View All Locations. Menu Menu. Locations Call Us Contact. Can Smiling Make You Healthier? By Riley Hebdon on July 16, Smiling Reduces Pain and Stress The endorphins we gain by smiling have a lot of great benefits.

The researchers put it down to the health benefits associated with happiness. Ekman, meanwhile, found that a Duchenne smile — but not other smiles — is accompanied by activity in the left frontal cortex of the brain, a region involved in experiencing enjoyment. However, more recent findings paint the Duchenne smile in a different light. Not everyone is able to do this, but a substantial minority of people can.