Smiles vs Frowns

Studie

have shown that it requires 15 different facial muscles contracting in a specific pattern to laugh. However, it takes 26 muscles to arrange the face in a frown—nearly twice as many muscles. Muscles use energy to do what they do. It’s difficult for me to understand the reason someone would choose to go to the extra work of frowning, when the energy could be used for something more beneficial. Dr. Norman Cousins in his book Anatomy of an Illness pointed out that laugher can promote  more comfortable sleep. In his case, ten minutes of belly laughter gave him two hours of pain-free sleep, something that even morphine had failed to do.