How many muscles to frown and smile

Published on October 2, by Mikael Angelo Francisco. Author: Mikael Angelo Francisco Bitten by the science writing bug, Mikael has years of writing and editorial experience under his belt. Twitter Facebook. Indigenous vegetables: a possible solution to PH pandemic hunger August 31, 5 mins read.

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Hafiz Laughter. January 12th, 2 Comments. January 2nd, 0 Comments. Leave A Comment Cancel reply Comment. Some sayings have been with us so long that their origins are now wholly forgotten. This popular aphorism about a greater number of facial muscles being needed to produce a frown than are required to generate a smile is one such snippet of homespun wisdom; it has been a part of our cultural landscape for so long that no one now knows where it began:. Yet, as widespread as this saying is, the figures touted therein about the number of muscles required to form both expressions change from telling to telling, seemingly at will.

Here is a quick sampling of some of ways this saying has been framed, as gleaned from a variety of news articles on any number of topics, including sports, music, and health:. Why overwork? The New York Times , 19 April According to doctors we use only four muscles to smile, but when we frown we use 64 muscles — 16 times more. The Hindu , 11 March It takes four muscles to smile, 20 to frown and roughly to appear amused when a Celine Dion imitator, who happens to be a man, sings a song about, er, flatulence.

The Denver Post , 29 September A smile uses 17 muscles, a frown, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , 24 February There are multiple studies which are contradicting the use of Procerus muslce and Frontalis muscle to determine the movement of the upper eyelids and forehead.

Some studies show that only the Procerus Muscle is used and some mention that Frontalis muscle is used. The number of muscles used to Frown is mentioned as 11 , but with the contradicting statements by studies it is not clear to determine the exact number.

Muscles used for Facial Expression. If we count only the Procerus muscle without the Frontalis the count goes to 11, if the Frontalis is included without Procerus the count is 12 and if both are included the count goes to