Fake Smiles May Improve Your Mood

A posed smile boosted happiness by about as much as looking at pictures of puppies and rainbows.

Scientists reckon they've produced the best evidence yet that a fake smile can lift your mood.

A 1988 study found that people thought cartoons were funnier when they held a pen or pencil in their teeth without letting their lips touch it - which activated the same muscles as a smile - but these results weren't replicated when the study was repeated in 2016.

But new research at Stanford University in California, has found a posed smile boosted happiness by about as much as looking at pictures of puppies and rainbows.

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