The hidden power of smiling | Ron Gutman

Translator: Lucijan Frbežar Reviewer: Špela Reher

Ko sem bil otrok, sem vedno želel postati superheroj.

When I was a child, I always wanted to be a superhero.

I wanted to save the world and make everyone happy.

Hotel sem rešiti svet in osrečiti vse ljudi.

Vedel pa sem, da potrebujem supermoči,

But I knew that I'd need superpowers to make my dreams come true.

da uresničim svoje sanje.

Zato sem se podal na imaginarna potovanja,

So I used to embark on these imaginary journeys

to find intergalactic objects from planet Krypton,

da najdem intergalaktične predmete s planeta Krypton,

which was a lot of fun, but didn't yield much result.

kar je bilo zelo zabavno,

vendar ni prineslo veliko rezultatov.

When I grew up and realized

S časom sem ugotovil,

that science fiction was not a good source for superpowers,

da znanstvena fantastika ni dober vir supermoči.

I decided instead to embark on a journey of real science,

Odločil sem se, da se podam na potovanje prave znanosti,

to find a more useful truth.

da najdem bolj uporabno resnico.

I started my journey in California,

Svoje potovanje sem pričel v Kaliforniji

with a UC Berkeley 30-year longitudinal study

s 30 let trajajočo študijo univerze v Berkleyu,

that examined the photos of students in an old yearbook,

v kateri so preučevali fotografije študentov

iz starega šolskega albuma

and tried to measure their success and well-being throughout their life.

in poskušali izmeriti njihov uspeh in počutje

skozi življenje.

By measuring the students' smiles,

Z merjenjem nasmehov svojih študentov

researchers were able to predict

so raziskovalci lahko napovedali,

how fulfilling and long-lasting a subject's marriage would be,

kako poln in dolgotrajen

bo njihov zakon,

(Laughter)

kako dobro bi premostili

how well she would score on standardized tests of well-being,

standardizirane teste počutja

and how inspiring she would be to others.

in kako bodo navdihovali druge ljudi.

In another yearbook, I stumbled upon Barry Obama's picture.

V nekem drugem šolskem albumu sem naletel na sliko Baracka Obame.

Ko sem jo prvič videl,

When I first saw his picture,

I thought that his superpowers came from his super collar.

sem mislil, da te supermoči prihajajo iz njegovega super ovratnika,

(Laughter)

But now I know it was all in his smile.

vendar sedaj vem, da je bilo vse zaradi njegovega nasmeha.

Another aha! moment came from a 2010 Wayne State University research project

Še en aha! moment

je prišel z raziskovalnega projekta na univerzi Wayne State leta 2010,

pri katerem so preučevali bejzbolske karte

that looked into pre-1950s baseball cards of Major League players.

Major League igralcev izpred 50-ih let.

Njihovi raziskovalci so odkrili,

The researchers found that the span of a player's smile

da lahko razpon igralčevega nasmeha

could actually predict the span of his life.

dejansko napove razpon njegovega življenja.

Players who didn't smile in their pictures

Igralci brez nasmeha na obrazu

lived an average of only 72.9 years,

so v povprečju doživeli le 72.9 let,

where players with beaming smiles

medtem ko so tisti s sijočim nasmehom

lived an average of almost 80 years.

v povprečju doživeli skoraj 80 let.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

The good news is that we're actually born smiling.

Dobra novica pa je, da se dejansko vsi rodimo nasmejani.

Using 3D ultrasound technology,

S pomočjo 3D ultrazvočne tehnologije

we can now see that developing babies appear to smile,

lahko sedaj vidimo, da so otroci nasmejani

celo že v maternici.

even in the womb.

In ko se rodijo.

When they're born, babies continue to smile --

ostanejo nasmjani --

initially, mostly in their sleep.

najprej predvsem med spanjem.

And even blind babies smile

Tudi slepo dete se nasmehne

to the sound of the human voice.

ob zvoku človeškega glasu.

Smiling is one of the most basic, biologically uniform

Nasmeh je en najbolj osnovnih, biološko enotnih

expressions of all humans.

izrazov vseh ljudi.

In studies conducted in Papua New Guinea,

V študijah, ki jih je v Papua Novi Gvineji

Paul Ekman, the world's most renowned researcher on facial expressions,

izvajal Paul Ekman, najbolj priznan strokovnjak

za obrazne mimike in izraze na svetu,

found that even members of the Fore tribe,

je odkrili, da se celo v plemenu Fori,

who were completely disconnected from Western culture,

ki je bilo popolnoma odklopljeno od zahodne kulture

and also known for their unusual cannibalism rituals,

in je znano tudi po nenavadnih kanibalskih ritualih,

(Laughter)

na določene situacije odzovejo z nasmehom,

attributed smiles to descriptions of situations

the same way you and I would.

prav tako kot bi se vi in jaz.

Torej iz Papua Nove Gvineje

So from Papua New Guinea

to Hollywood

v Hollywood. Iz tega

vse do moderne umetnosti Pekinga,

all the way to modern art in Beijing,

se kar naprej smejemo.

we smile often,

and use smiles to express joy and satisfaction.

Smejemo pa se zato, da izrazimo veselje

in zadovoljstvo.

How many people here in this room smile more than 20 times per day?

Koliko ljudi v tej dvorani

se nasmehne več kot 20 krat dnevno?

Raise your hand if you do.

Dvignite roko, če se. Oh, wow.

Oh, wow.

Zunaj te dvorane se nas dobra

Outside of this room,

more than a third of us smile more than 20 times per day,

tretjina smeji ali nasmehne več kot 20 krat v enem dnevu,

medtem, ko nas je slabih 14 procentov.

whereas less than 14 percent of us smile less than five.

ki se smejemo manj kot 5 krat na dan.

In fact, those with the most amazing superpowers are actually children,

V resnici so tisti z največjimi supermočmi

pravzaprav otroci,

who smile as many as 400 times per day.

ki se smejijo vsaj 400 krat dnevno.

Ste se kdaj spraševali, zakaj smo med otroci,

Have you ever wondered why being around children,

ki so nasmejani tako frekventno,

who smile so frequently, makes you smile very often?

pogosto nasmejani še mi?

A recent study at Uppsala University in Sweden

V nedavni raziskavi na univerzi Uppsala na Švedskem

so odkrili, da se je zelo težko mrščiti

found that it's very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles.

medtem, ko gledamo nekoga, ki se smeje.

Vprašate, zakaj?

You ask why?

Because smiling is evolutionarily contagious,

Zato, ker je smeh evolucijsko nalezljiv

and it suppresses the control we usually have on our facial muscles.

in zatre kontrolo, ki jo ponavadi

imamo nad obraznimi mišicami.

Posnemanje nasmeha

Mimicking a smile and experiencing it physically

in s tem doživljanje le tega fizično

helps us understand whether our smile is fake or real,

nam je pomagalo razumeti, ali je naš nasmeh pristen ali ne,

so we can understand the emotional state of the smiler.

s tem pa pomagalo določiti čustveno stanje

smejoče osebe.

In a recent mimicking study

V nedavni raziskavi

at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France,

univerze Clermont-Ferrand v Franciji

subjects were asked to determine whether a smile was real or fake

so sodelujoče prosili naj določijo,

ali je nasmeh pristen ali narejen,

while holding a pencil in their mouth to repress smiling muscles.

medtem pa naj v ustih držijo svinčnik

in s tem okrnejo premikanje smejalnih mišic.

Brez svinčnika so se v določanju odrezali očitno.

Without the pencil, subjects were excellent judges,

but with the pencil in their mouth --

S svinčniki v ustih, zaradi katerih

when they could not mimic the smile they saw --

posnemanje nasmeha ni bilo mogoče,

their judgment was impaired.

pa se jim je presoja občutno poslabšala.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

In addition to theorizing on evolution in "The Origin of Species,"

Poleg teorij o evoluciji v delu "O izvoru vrst"

Charles Darwin also wrote the facial feedback response theory.

je Charles Darwin napisal tudi

teorijo o odzivnosti obraznih mišic.

Teorija pravi,

His theory states that the act of smiling itself actually makes us feel better,

da nas že samo smejanje

spravi v dobro voljo,

rather than smiling being merely a result of feeling good.

ne pa da je smeh le posledica

dobre volje.

In his study, Darwin actually cited a French neurologist, Guillaume Duchenne,

V svoji študiji

je Darwin citiral francoskega nevrologa, Guillauma Duchenna,

who sent electric jolts to facial muscles to induce and stimulate smiles.

ki je v svojih raziskavah uporabljal električne šoke,

s katerimi je stimuliral nasmehe.

Please, don't try this at home.

Prosim, tega ne počnite doma.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

In a related German study,

V povezani nemški raziskavi so

researchers used fMRI imaging to measure brain activity

raziskovalci uporabili fMRI (funkcionalno slikanje z magnetno resonanco),

da bi izmerili aktivnost možganov

before and after injecting Botox to suppress smiling muscles.

pred in po vbrizganju botoxa,

saj ta oslabi premikanje obraznih mišic.

The finding supported Darwin's theory,

Pridobljeni podatki so podprli Darwinovo teorijo,

by showing that facial feedback

ko so pokazali, da odziv na izraz

modifies the neural processing of emotional content in the brain,

preuredi živčne procese

čustvene narave v možganih,

in a way that helps us feel better when we smile.

in nam pomaga pri boljšem počutju, ko se smejemo.

Smiling stimulates our brain reward mechanism

Smejanje stimulira nagrajevalni sistem naših možganov

na način, kakršnega niti čokolada --

in a way that even chocolate --

a well-regarded pleasure inducer --

dobro poznan afrodizijak --

cannot match.

ne dosega.

British researchers found that one smile

Britanski znanstveniki so odkrili, da lahko že en nasmeh

can generate the same level of brain stimulation

sproži enak učinek stimuliranja možganov

as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate.

kot 2,000 tablic čokolade.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Wait --

Počakajte. V isti raziskavi so dognali,

The same study found that smiling is as stimulating

da je nasmeh primerljivo stimulativen kot

as receiving up to 16,000 pounds sterling in cash.

dobitek nagrade 16,000 funtov v gotovini.

(Laughter)

18,000 eurov za en nasmeh.

That's like 25 grand a smile.

It's not bad.

Ni slabo.

And think about it this way:

Glejte na to tako:

25,000 times 400 --

18,000 krat 400 --

quite a few kids out there feel like Mark Zuckerberg every day.

kar nekaj otrok tamle zunaj

se počuti kot Mark Zuckerberg vsak dan.

(Laughter)

In za razliko od velikih količin čokolade,

And unlike lots of chocolate,

lots of smiling can actually make you healthier.

vas lahko smejanje dejansko naredi bolj zdravega.

Smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones

Smejanje lahko zniža raven

stres spodbujajočih hormonov

like cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine,

kot so kortizol, adrenalin in dopamin,

increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphins,

medtem ko zvišuje raven dobrih hormonov,

kot je endorfin

and reduce overall blood pressure.

in niža krvni tlak.

In če vam to še ni dovolj,

And if that's not enough,

smiling can actually make you look good in the eyes of others.

nasmeh dejansko izgleda dobro

v očeh drugih.

A recent study at Penn State University found that when you smile,

Študija na univerzi Penn State

je pokazala, da med smejanjem

you don't only appear to be more likable and courteous,

ne izgledate samo bolj všečni in vljudni,

temveč tudi bolj sposobni.

but you actually appear to be more competent.

Torej vedno, ko hočete izgledati odlično in kompetentno,

So whenever you want to look great and competent,

zmanjšati stres,

reduce your stress or improve your marriage,

izboljšajti zakon,

or feel as if you just had a whole stack of high-quality chocolate

ali pa se počutiti kot, da bi pojedli cel zavoj kakovostne čokolade --

brez odvečnih kalorij --

without incurring the caloric cost,

or as if you found 25 grand in a pocket of an old jacket you hadn't worn for ages,

ali kot da bi našli 18 tisočakov v žepu

stare jakne, ki je niste oblekli že leta,

ali kadar si hočete sposoditi te supermoči,

or whenever you want to tap into a superpower

that will help you and everyone around you

ki bodo pomagale vam in vsem okoli vas

live a longer, healthier, happier life,

živeti daljše, bolj zdravo in srečnejše življenje,

se samo nasmehnite.

smile.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)