I am hypothyroid. It’s a curious disease that means my thyroid doesn’t make enough of the hormones that the thyroid normally makes and sends to every cell in your body. Symptoms can show up in a myriad of obscure ways, but the most common are slow metabolism and poor circulation, so you feel cold a good deal of the time. And a curious one: your eyebrows tend to show up as split in the middle – you have four eyebrows, in short. And you get bags under your eyes. All the time. No matter how much sleep you get.

Fortunately, there has long been medicine, levothyroxine, that sends a signal to the thyroid that it’s not making enough hormones, so it gets busy and starts creating them.

The disease tends to be fairly stable, not changing much for months or even years at a time. It’s more common amongst women than men.

So if you have to have a chronic condition, there are many that are much worse, and I consider myself lucky.

Until now. I just saw some research that suggests that droopy, baggy eyelids and a slight frown – the researchers might be describing the way I usually look – are taken to be less intelligent.

So when I’m standing up in front of audiences, my baggy eyelids and droopy look in general are causing audiences to think I’m dumb?

This is very distressing. Naturally, I want to know what I can do about it. And the researchers oblige with the answer: compensate by smiling slightly and opening your eyes wide.

When I saw this, something clicked. Because I’ve long cited research on facial expressions that shows that there are four universally understood facial expressions that promote a positive connection with other people. And I run a clip of the Beatles performing and challenge my audiences to figure out which of the Beatles is using all four – and thus the most popular Beatle.

This research is important for people wanting to become better communicators to understand, because stage fright causes you to lose those positive facial affects and become The Great Stone Face. And now we know, make you look stupid, too.

Paul McCartney, just to put you out of your misery, was/is the most popular Beatle, and the four positive facial gestures are: smiling, opening your eyes wide, nodding, and raising your eyebrows. Paul does all four at once whenever he performs, and the results are extraordinary. The other Beatles did not. Watch a tape of the Fab Four performing and you’ll immediately see what I mean. Paul is smiling, nodding, raising his eyebrows and opening his eyes wide all the time – usually simultaneously.

He got the most fan mail, in case you’re wondering.

And now we know that he was/is probably perceived to be more intelligent than otherwise thanks to this active facial behavior. And all those late nights partying didn’t slow him down much, if at all, because he knew the antidotes.

So from now on, if you see me speaking, I’ll be the one nodding, raising my eyebrows, and especially smiling and opening my eyes, in order to counteract the general tendency for audiences to think that I’m as dumb as dirt.

Here goes!

If you suffer from fatigue, slow metabolism, or baggy eyes, please do get your thyroid checked.  It’s a hidden disease that can cause real problems if not diagnosed.