The Science of Optimism

Smiling in spite of stress might help you actually deal with your stress. Results from a study published in the Journal of the Association for Psychological Science showed that smiling during stressful situations helped improve the physical state of the participants. Smiling in spite of stressors helped reduce the intensity of the body’s stress response, regardless of whether the participant reported feelings of happiness. A good attitude may also lower your stress levels. One study of men and women found that those who had a positive outlook on life also had lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.