Recent research has emphasized the role of the upper region of the face, a part not covered by a mask, in the evaluation of age. For example, smile-related wrinkles in the region of the eyes make smiling faces appear older than neutral faces of the same individuals (the aging effect of smiling, AES).
“People were asked to rate how old they thought the faces were. After the study was done, we found people rated the smiling faces, on average, 1 year older than the same faces in neutral expressions.”
But researchers were shocked to find that the results were actually the opposite: The smiling faces were, on average, perceived as being around two years older than those same faces in neutral expressions.
The aging effect of smiling (AES), which is thought to result from the presence of smile-related wrinkles around the eyes, contradicts the common belief that smiling faces should be perceived as younger, not older.
Don't blame your smiles
Smiling has a lot of benefits, so it is never advisable to stop smiling just to avoid wrinkles. A much better approach is to avoid or limit UV exposure, which is the main cause of premature aging and wrinkles.
Tess Christian, 50, nicknamed 'Mona Lisa' by her friends, claims her strategy is more a natural, cost-effective way of forestalling facial wrinkles. A British woman has gone without smiling for 40 years, more than two thirds of her life, in a move to forestall the wrinkles associated with old age.
Without a shadow of a doubt, smiling is not a cause for wrinkle formation. In fact, some research suggests that smiling can actually prevent – or at least delay – wrinkle formation. The lesson here is to never stop smiling.
THE CHEEKY SMILE LINES
Come back here in your 20s or 30s. Our cheeks are made of fat pads beneath the skin surface that descend, reduce and shift with time. Smile lines occur when these pads sag due to the natural loss of fat that occurs in the face with age, forming deep nasolabial folds from as early as 25 years old.
Both genetics and lifestyle-related factors have an influence on our youthful appearance. The key to understand perceived ageing is the interaction between these two elements. Epigenetics can provide this key.
Smiling increases socially perceived attractiveness and is considered a signal of trustworthiness and intelligence.
Your face changes most in your 50s and 60s
For most people, the answer to “At what age does your face change the most?” is sometime in their 50s or 60s. This is around the time that the effects of gravity and fat loss become extremely noticeable.
Yes, those who are happy tend to have fewer wrinkles and lines and other outward signs of aging. Their skin tends to be more resilient, which allows them to look much younger than they actually are.
Some people have smile lines from a young age, but the deeper creases form with increased age, weight gain, smoking, a loss of collagen, and dental problems (when the teeth no longer support the overlying tissue). Smile lines can also include creases around the eyes, as the skin moves each time we smile.
Second, smiling may have a sort of "halo effect," meaning we tend to find smiling faces more attractive - and so imbue them with positives effects like youth and may judge them younger than they actually are.
When you smile, your facial muscles relax, making your face appear at ease and not taut with tension. A natural smile is one of the best remedies for anti-aging.
Typically, babies start smiling between 6 and 12 weeks, but you may notice a smile or smirk soon after baby's born.
According to a new study, when you look significantly younger than your chronological age, it's not just an optical illusion, your skin is actually aging a slower rate than normal.
We established before that wrinkles will form in all cases. It is just a normal physiologic aging process. Therefore, we say with confidence that smiling absolutely does NOT cause wrinkles. That being said, too much facial expression – including smiling – can accelerate the rate at which the wrinkles are formed.
It's never too early to start taking care of your skin to help slow the aging process.
It might surprise you to know that levels of collagen—the protein that keeps skin firm—start to dwindle as early as your teens, says New York City dermatologist Patricia Wexler, MD. Yet most women start to notice fine lines and slackness of skin around age 25.
To be considered conventionally attractive, your smile should have the same midline (vertical line that splits the face perfectly in half) as your face. If your smile's midline isn't directly between your two central front teeth, it might look unattractive.
The Woman Who Never Smiled tells a true story of Celia Mintzer, the author's grandmother, and how she rescued her daughter Rosa from a devastating childhood illness.
The rarest smile type is the complex smile, with only an estimated 2% of the population possessing this smile. This smile is rare because it requires three muscle groups to work simultaneously when smiling.