How to Fake Happiness When Depressed and Uplift Your Mood

Do you want to know how to fake happiness when depressed? Surprisingly, many people who suffer from this mental health disorder have already mastered this technique. The ability to hide negative emotions and appear happy is often referred to as smiling depression.

Smiling depression can be a dangerous condition because it could potentially keep you from receiving help when you need it the most. 

Some people believe that faking happiness can be a good way to break free from temporary blues and may even trick your brain into believing that you are happier. 

This “fake it until you make it” method could make you feel much better in those difficult situations where there just isn’t something you can do to change the problem at hand. The method could also save lives on those days when depressed individuals experience extremely low mood periods.

Let’s take a closer look at this strategy and what you can do to pretend to feel better until you forget why you were ever sad to begin with. 

How to Fake Happiness When Depressed

Faking happiness can be a good way to cheer yourself up when you are feeling exceptionally low.

This false front you are putting on can make your outward appearance more appealing so more people will be eager to engage with you, which can also help break that negative spiral.

Here is a quick look at some of the best strategies to try if you want to seem happier despite feeling a bit overwhelmed with your present situation.

Smile

Smiling can trick your brain into happiness even when you feel tired or sad. Smiling, despite feeling unhappy, can uplift your mood, reduce stress levels, and boost your immune system. Many believe that smiling often can prolong your life.

This is because a simple smile causes your brain to release endorphins and serotonin into the bloodstream.

The endorphins act as a pain reliever that can reduce that heavy feeling of dread that usually surrounds depression, while serotonin acts as a natural antidepressant. Experts also believe that even a fake smile can bring about positive mood changes. 

Smiling can also cause a ripple effect. When you smile, others around you are also likely to start smiling. This can make them feel a lot better and ensures a much happier work environment.

Listen to Upbeat Music

Listening to upbeat music can also reduce some depressive symptoms.

The right type of music can even improve the physical symptoms of a depressive disorder because music can affect your anxiety levels and blood pressure levels, reduce physical pain, improve your mood, boost mental alertness, and enhance memory.

Depressed people need to be very careful when selecting their playlist.

Some music can have the opposite effect and may make the symptoms of depression a lot worse. Listening to sad music when you are already down will have you in tears in no time at all. 

Depressed people should try to avoid sad or slow music in general because it can easily cause a dark and downward spiral of emotions.

It is always better to listen to tracks with a light tone that will boost your heart rate and that might encourage movement.

Enjoy Physical Activities

Physical activity can be helpful for mood disorders because it can boost your mood. Don’t get us wrong, exercising isn’t a cure for major depression, but it can help cope with depressive episodes. 

Daily physical activity can be wonderful for reducing the intensity of feelings of depression, and it is an ideal solution for people without depression who simply feel depressed on a specific day.

Physical activity offers many anti-depressing benefits. Aerobic exercises promote oxygen to the brain, which helps clear up brain fog and reduce unrealistic thoughts.

When you work out, your brain will also release endorphins into the bloodstream, which can give you that “runner’s high” feeling that is sure to make you feel fantastic despite being sad before. 

Many also believe that other chemicals in the brain are released that help form new connections in the brain, which can help reduce that imbalance of brain chemicals that might be triggering depression.

Regular exercise can also make it much easier to control your weight while optimizing your health. These benefits will give you a boost of confidence, which is sure to combat depressive thoughts. 

Meditate Before You Step Out

Meditating is helpful for various types of depression as well as other mental disorders like anxiety. This ancient practice has many great benefits, and just a couple of minutes of deep meditation can make a huge difference in your mood.

Meditation can help reduce overthinking and keeps your mind from wandering, which often leads to people feeling unhappy. A soothing session is terrific for reducing anxiety and will make you feel a lot more focused. If you are having a tough time meditating, then perhaps you should try aromatherapy or stress-away spray while you meditate. 

After meditating, you will feel cool and collected, and it will be much easier for you to control your emotions.

Say Positive Affirmations

One of the biggest issues with depression is self-hate. The things people with these mental health issues say to themselves are usually absolutely horrifying. And every time you utter negative thoughts to yourself, you reduce your willpower, lower your self-esteem, and fall deeper into despair.

Words have a lot of power, and one of the best ways to look and feel a lot happier is by saying positive affirmations to yourself before you step out the door.

Collect a couple of powerful affirmations that are easy to remember or short enough to keep on a poster at your desk, at your dressing table, or in the bathroom next to the vanity. Say these positive things about yourself, and you will soon start feeling a lot more positive. 

Watch Funny or Cute Videos

Social platforms like TikTok have become incredibly popular lately. Even though this platform can be a little bit addictive, or even dangerous if used incorrectly, it can also be a good depression aid. 

TikTok is a terrific source of short funny and cute video clips of cute animals, cute babies, or people who do hilarious things. You can even watch satisfying videos like soap cutting, slime mixing, or kinetic sand clips.

When you watch funny videos, the brain releases endorphins into your bloodstream. These feel-good hormones can promote social laughter and will make you feel a lot happier.

Watching video clips of cute animals can also trigger the release of oxytocin into your bloodstream. This love hormone can reduce feelings of loneliness. 

Satisfying videos of soap cutting or slime kneading (also known as ASMR videos or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response videos), on the other hand, have a calming effect on the body. Researchers discovered that your heart rate will slow down when watching these videos. 

This is a superb way to calm your nerves when you are feeling anxious, and ASMR might even be a helpful tool to treat insomnia or help depressive people fall asleep much quicker. 

You can even watch exciting video clips that will release dopamine hormones. Dopamine hormones can make you feel very good within minutes, but this hormone is sadly addictive and might be one of the biggest reasons you have a tough time staying off the internet.

Avoid Social Media

While you are spending a little bit of time on the internet, you should be very careful to avoid social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. These sites have been known to worsen depression. 

People usually only show their good side on the internet but hardly ever share the bad days or sad things that happen to them. Looking at how happy others pretend to be can make you feel a lot worse. On depressive days, it is always best to stay off social media. 

Remember to Seek Professional Help

Everyone experiences depression at one point or another, but if you are constantly feeling run down, tired, stressed, sad, emotional, or even angry, then it is best to seek professional help. 

Home remedies are great for improving mental health conditions or for easing your life despite these conditions, but if you have a serious condition then it is always better to reach out to a medical professional so you can get some prescription medication or therapy. 

Final Thoughts

We hope that this guide on how to fake happiness when depressed is helpful, not just for seeming happier, but for actually feeling better when you are down. If you are looking for other great health and wellness tips, then we welcome you to have a look at some of our other guides on Well and Wealthy.

Our guides are specially developed to promote self-care and to help you live a happier life.