A new study published in Nature Human Behaviour, confirms that if you “put on a happy face,” you will feel happier. The research assessed whether people’s subjective experiences of emotion could be influenced by their facial expressions, and it found that by posing our facial muscles in a smile we can feel happier.

Specifically, the study of 3768 participants across 19 countries found a noticeable increase in happiness for people who mimicked smiling photographs or simply pulled the corners of their mouths toward their ears.

The concept of being able to influence our emotions by simply moving our facial muscles has long been debated by researchers. However, this is the first study to test a mutually agreed methodology. And it provides reliable evidence that the physical formation of a smile can produce feelings of happiness.

The study tested three well-known techniques:

1.mimicking facial expressions of actors seen in photos;

2. moving the corners of our mouths toward the ears using only facial muscles; and

3. using the ‘pen-in-mouth’ technique, which moves the facial muscles into a simulated smile shape using an object.

The first two techniques generated noticeable increases in happiness, providing a compelling argument that human emotions are linked to muscle movements. Results for the third technique were inconclusive.