FAKE IT TILL YOU FEEL IT
Putting on a Happy Face Really Helps
BY:MARY ELIZABETH TERZELLA
Acting cheery may really make you feel that way. Research has shown that laughter soothes stress and reduces depression. But you don’t have to wait for something to strike you funny to benefit, reveals a recent experiment. When people forced themselves to laugh heartily for a minute, they felt significantly happier afterward, according to questions that measured their mood before and after the faux merriment.
"Going through the motions can actually trigger the emotion,” says researcher Charles E. Schaefer, PhD, professor of psychology at Farleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. “Your body doesn’t know when a laugh is fake,” he explains. “It releases mood-boosting endorphins as a natural physiological response to the physical act of laughing.”