+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
Joy

10 things that made us smile this week

Upworthy's weekly roundup of joy.

smile happy joy uplifting
Roman Odintsov/Pexels

10 reasons to smile.

Since we're entering cold and flu season while also (still) trying to fend off COVID-19, we could all use some tips for boosting our immune system. We probably all know the standards—eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising—but did you know that joy can also give your immune system a kick?

According to the Mayo Clinic, laughter can release neuropeptides that can help prevent illness from becoming more serious and help fight stress that can weaken your immune system. A 2003 study found that people with more positive emotional states were less likely to develop a common cold, a 2015 study found that laugh therapy helped boost the immune response in women who had just given birth and multiple other studies have come to similar conclusions.

According to ENT-otolaryngologist Dr. Murray Grossan, even a simple smile can offer immunity benefits. “What’s crazy is that just the physical act of smiling can make a difference in building your immunity,” Dr. Grossan told NBC News. “When you smile, the brain sees the muscle [activity] and assumes that humor is happening.”

So consider this list a weekly dose of emotional inoculation. Can't guarantee it'll keep you from catching anything, but it certainly isn't gonna hurt ya!

Enjoy!

Swan couple engaging in a graceful courtship dance is just mesmerizing.

So beautiful. Mute swans are one of the few bird species that mate for life. (And whoever played the "Swan Lake" theme over this was brilliant.)

Kiddo getting woken by a new puppy surprise is the stuff core memories are made of.

Love how it took him a few seconds to enter his body and see what was happening. Then a hug before anything else. So sweet.

Cuddly cat appears to comfort human who is crying.

"Hey, hooman. You okay? Let me smoosh my face on you to make you feel better."

Dad sings Persian song for baby who blissfully rests on his guitar.

Gracious. What a lovely voice, beautiful song and adorable baby.

Doggo greets his bestest boy with the bestest hug.

I'd like to put in a request for this kind of greeting every time I come home, please.

Kid meets his baby brother for the first time and makes everyone's eyes all sweaty.

@brianaarielle89

#fyp #viral #heartwarming #siblings #brothers #babiesoftiktok

Good tears, but phew! I was not ready. Read the full story and see the Part Two video here.

This baby girl's "Hi, baby girrrl" is almost too much cuteness to handle.

@aliannaandfam

Hi mommy! 👋🏽😁 #babygirl #babyfever #babiesoftiktok #beautifulpeople #love #god

She's so darn proud of herself. As she should be.

Selma Blair, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis four years ago, lit up "Dancing With the Stars."

It hasn't been an easy road for Blair, and she was afraid she would lose her balance during the performance, but she wanted to show that people with disabilities can find joy in unexpected ways. Mission accomplished. Read the full story here.

Wee one takes his first steps and decides dancing is more important.

That shoulder shrug, though. May we all walk through life with such sweetness and swagger!

Finally, a little Paul Rudd "September" dance montage to carry you through the weekend.

If Paul Rudd being Paul Rudd doesn't make you smile, I'm not sure I can help you.

Hope that made your week a whole lot brighter! If you enjoy these posts and want to have them delivered straight to you each week, subscribe to our free newsletter, The Upworthiest, here.

From Your Site Articles
uplifting
Badge
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Joy

The best and brightest come together to tackle society’s toughest challenges

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is working to eradicate disease, improve education, and address the needs of their local community.

True

Have you ever wished you could solve some of society’s toughest challenges? That’s exactly why the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) was founded.

Established in 2015 by Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, the organization’s mission is to build a better future for everyone. CZI is working to eradicate disease, improve education, and address the needs of their local community.

Since its launch, CZI has awarded around $4.8 billion in grants to organizations whose work aligns with these values.

Keep ReadingShow less
zuckerberg
Democracy

These 27 non-political questions can predict whether you’re a Republican or Democrat.

This article originally appeared on 08.09.18


Recent polls suggest that Republicans and Democrats have slightly different tastes that have nothing to do with politics.

If you like cats, The Beatles, and Starbucks, you tend to vote Democrat. If you're into Toby Keith, Budweiser, and Dunkin' Donuts, you tend to vote Republican.

But an interesting new quiz claims to be 98 percent effective at determining people's political affiliations by asking questions that have zero to do with politics.

Keep ReadingShow less
politics
Identity

13 side-by-side portraits of people over 100 with their younger selves

These powerful before-and-after photos reveal just how beautiful aging can be.

This article originally appeared on 12.08.17.


Centenarians — people 100 years or older — are a rarity. Their lives are often scrutinized as holding the key to aging.

Czech photographer Jan Langer's portrait series "Faces of Century" shows them in a different light: as human beings aged by years of experience, but at their deepest level, unchanged by the passing of time.

In the series, Langer juxtaposes his portraits with another portrait of the subject from decades earlier. He recreates the original pose and lighting as closely as he can — he wants us to see them not just as they are now, but how they have and haven't changed over time. That is the key to the series.

Keep ReadingShow less
Science

Astronaut shares the profound 'big lie' he realized after seeing the Earth from space

This change in perspective could change humanity.

via Rubén Moreno Montolíu/Flickr

Our home, from space.

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

The overview effect makes man’s squabbles with one another seem incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, one interconnected organism.

In a compelling interview with Big Think, astronaut, author and humanitarian Ron Garan explains how if more of us developed this planetary perspective we could fix much of what ails humanity and the planet.

Garan has spent 178 days in space and traveled more than 71 million miles in 2,842 orbits. From high above, he realized that the planet is a lot more fragile than he thought.

Keep ReadingShow less
space
Science

A juice company dumped orange peels in a national park. Here's what it looks like now.

12,000 tons of food waste and 21 years later, this forest looks totally different.

This article originally appeared on 08.23.17


In 1997, ecologists Daniel Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs approached an orange juice company in Costa Rica with an off-the-wall idea.

In exchange for donating a portion of unspoiled, forested land to the Área de Conservación Guanacaste — a nature preserve in the country's northwest — the park would allow the company to dump its discarded orange peels and pulp, free of charge, in a heavily grazed, largely deforested area nearby.

One year later, one thousand trucks poured into the national park, offloading over 12,000 metric tons of sticky, mealy, orange compost onto the worn-out plot.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trending Stories