Cultivating can take a lot of practice. But there is one way to boost one’s mood easily. During a conversation with TODAY’s Hoda Kotb on her podcast, “Making Space,” happiness expert Arthur Brooks shared a tip on how he says people can quickly foster — by practicing something called a Duchenne smile.
“What you want to do is simulate that,” Brooks told Hoda. “The way to do it is you put a pencil between your teeth — like crosswise horizontally — and grip with your molars and kind of bite down, not too hard. Don’t hurt your teeth or break them.
But (do it) for like 20 seconds.” Brooks said Hoda can try it with her Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, when they’re feeling grumpy to help lighten the mood. He recommended perfecting their Duchenne smiles while looking in the mirror.
“It’s super funny, too,” Brooks said. “You look in the mirror, it’s even funnier and you’re doing this ..
. and you feel better.” Performing this simple exercise for 20 seconds will help people “feel happier for an hour.
” Brooks said some research has found this is effective. He explained the history of the Duchenne smile, discovered by French neurologist Guillaume Duchenne who studied facial expressions. “(Duchenne) wanted to know what smile is associated with true happiness,” Brooks said.
“He traveled all around the world and he finds that there’s this one smile that’s associated with true happiness ...
It’s called the Duchenne smile. He named it after himself,.