Can your smile tell me how long you’ll live?
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The span of a person’s smile in photos is predictive of how long they will live.
Via Smile: The Astonishing Powers of a Simple Act (TED Books):
A Chinese proverb states that “every smile makes you a day younger.” The spirit of this ancient saying was supported by another surprising study that found that big, beaming smiles may be the secret to more than just a sense of well-being. A 2010 research project at Wayne State University in Michigan, conducted by the Center for Growth and Human Development and published in Psychological Science, examined the baseball card photos of 230 Major League players from 1952.
By coding the smiles, and categorizing them from no smile to full, genuine smiles, the study found that the span of a player’s smile could actually predict the span of his life! Players who didn’t smile in their pictures lived an average of only 72.9 years, players with partial smiles lived for an average of 75 years, and players with big, beaming smiles lived an average of 79.9 years.
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