Did you know that smiling and laughing are programmed into our brain?
I love this story; it is going blow your mind on how this works!
Dr. Itzahk Fried is a neurosurgery professor at UCLA. What he found is literally shocking in every sense of the word. Dr. Fried’s team delivered electricity to a woman’s brain to stimulate smiling and laughing! It sounds like a taser that makes you laugh!
As the story goes, the test subject was instructed to perform unrelated tasks, such as reading, counting, or moving her hands and feet. When they delivered very small amounts of electricity to the front of her brain, she consistently demonstrated a smile.
At higher currents, a “robust and contagious laughter” was induced, and the higher the current, the longer the duration and intensity of the laughter. This laughter was accompanied by a sensation of mirth and merriment, and when the current got high enough, she would stop performing all other activities while laughing. When the laughter was stimulated with electric shocks, she associated whatever she was doing at the time
with being “funny.” Stand-up comics around the world are dying to learn about this
technology!
If the test subject was reading about a horse and received the stimulation,
she thought the horse was funny. If she was talking to people in the room during
stimulation, she thought the people were funny. If you let this sink in, the implications
are astonishing. Our brain is like a computer, and brain cells (neurons) work using
electricity and chemicals (neurotransmitters is the fancy word for these chemicals in
our brain). This electrical and chemical stimulation creates “shocks” in our brain all
the time, and we use these shocks to control our body to move, sing, read, laugh,
eat, play, or sleep. Just like this young lady, we can give ourselves “Smile Shocks” and
stimulate our own brain to feel however we want to feel. We can choose what we find
to be funny or not funny. And we can rehearse and strengthen the behavior patterns
and neural networks that we choose with these brain shocks. Kind of creepy, and
the good news is that you don’t need to hook batteries up to your head to make this
happen. Just practice your smile and give your brain a smiling power surge!
Basic neurophysiology tells us that stimulating (or shocking) the brain is how we get better at a musical instrument, sport, language, or any discipline for that matter.
By constantly stimulating a specific area of our brain, we consistently improve that
behavior. It is like building a muscle. The more you stimulate it, the more that area
develops. Doesn’t it feel good to be stimulated? So let’s make sure we stimulate ourselves (shock our brain) in behaviors that are favorable and serve us. This strategy also works
when you stimulate and reinforce behaviors relating to anger, sadness, depression, and
rage. And, all of our brain stimulation ultimately comes from within. So here is the question:
Are you controlling what stimulates your brain? Or, are you letting other people or external factors shock your brain and control what stimulates your behaviors?
Who is minding your mind? If you don’t mind your mind, someone else will start
controlling it. Frankenstein had the bolts on the sides of his neck just in case his brain
needed a jumpstart. Just think of people in the same way, and sometimes they need a
“smile shock” to get their smile going. Always keep your jumper cables handy!
We can Jumpstart a Smile in Anyone!
The Evidence Is In!
Now you can understand why this is so important to me. The evidence is clear that
smiling and creating positive meaning in your life will make you happier, reduce your
stress, and help you live longer.
Proactive, genuine smiling will increase happiness, the
quality of relationships, health, longevity, and emotional
resilience.
On the other hand, lack of smiling correlates to feelings of sadness, depression,
and a shorter life span. This is so important, we have created a simple five step fun
process that everyone can follow to enhance their smile. Isn’t it fun to learn about
the magic in life?
Enjoyed this post ?
Great! The above post is an excerpt from “The Smile Prescription” by Dr Rich Castellano and is available to purchase NOW from Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Here is another thing to smile about …
…ImageLift offers a FREE, live, interactive event. Every week, my team and I travel across our state to deliver live events and offer free medical advice.
That’s right! No Charge!
Anyone can come and ask me about their problem areas or concerns about plastic surgery.
You would think giving away my advice for free would be bad for business but the opposite is true. My true passion is to help patients in every way. Usually in ways they never expect.