TED Talks - Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling

[NOTE: This was originally posted last week, but it disappeared into the ether during Blogger's downtime - only to suddenly reappear today.]


This is a cool TED Talk on the science of smiling.

Ron Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you'll live -- and that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being? Prepare to flex a few facial muscles as you learn more about this evolutionarily contagious behavior.

Ron Gutman is the founder and CEO of HealthTap, responsible for the company's innovation, vision and product. Before this, he was founder and CEO of Wellsphere, an online consumer health company that developed the world's largest community of independent health writers; it was acquired in early 2009.

As a graduate student at Stanford, Gutman organized and led a multidisciplinary group of faculty and graduate students from the schools of Engineering, Medicine, Business, Psychology and Law to conduct research in personalized health and to design ways to help people live healthier, happier lives. He is an angel investor and advisor to health and technology companies such as Rock Health (the first Interactive Health Incubator) and Harvard Medical School's SMArt Initiative ("Substitutable Medical Apps, reusable technologies"). He's the organizer of TEDxSiliconValley. Find links to all the studies that Gutman references in his talk right here.

Tags: TED Talks, Ron Gutman, The hidden power of smiling, HealthTap, Psychology, Health, smiling, research, smile, happiness, longevity, TEDx, Silicon Valley