A new study from Rice University, the University of Toronto and Purdue University has found that the more you have to suppress emotions while at work, the more it affects your health – adversely.

Many people have to keep their feelings hidden while at work. Journalists, health care professionals, social workers, lawyers and law enforcement officers have to keep their feelings bottled up while on the job and the findings from the study imply that this may leave them without the necessary energy to complete their important tasks efficiently.

Daniel Beal at Rice University stated:

"It takes energy to suppress emotions, so it's not surprising that workers who must remain neutral are often more rundown or show greater levels of burnout. The more energy you spend controlling your emotions, the less energy you have to devote to the task at hand,"

This means that neutral displays of emotion could take more energy for emotional suppression and less energy for the actual task at hand.

The 'neutral' poker face is SO last week! With the term ‘poker face’ previously being synonymous with neutrality and the appearance of not being bothered at all, a new study has suggested that the conventionally inexpressive ‘poker face’ is not the most effective strategy when playing poker after all.
  
According to Erik J. Schlicht, Shinsuke Shimojo, Colin F. Camerer, Peter Battaglia, and Ken Nakayama, the authors of a book about the study of poker mechanics, it has been found that: “Surprisingly, we find that threatening face information has little influence on wagering behaviour, but faces relaying positive emotional characteristics impact peoples’ decisions,” and that the opponents of more positive players folded more often when they would have been better off staying in the game.

These authors claim the best poker face is not a bluffing or a neutral face but a face that implies trustworthiness and this is often relayed with a smile.