10 Benefits Of Kissing

Albert Einstein said that “Any man who
can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is
simply not giving the kiss the attention it
deserves.” Forget about disease
transmission, for a kiss is truly a
pleasurable thing and Einstein has to say
that it is special. But it is more than that;
kissing has several benefits, especially to
the health and well-being of a person. Here
are ten benefits of kissing (specifically a
kiss between lovers):
1. Kissing burns calories. Not that
kissing is the ultimate fat-burning activity!
But kissing can burn as much as 2 to 6
calories a minute. It may not be much, but
two hours of continuous kissing can burn
calories equivalent to one pound steak. It
can also double your metabolic rate.
Research claims that three passionate
kisses a day (at least lasting 20 seconds
each) will cause you to lose an entire extra
pound! It’s time to start that kissing diet!
2. Kissing tones the face and
strengthens facial muscles. You use 30
muscles while kissing and the smooching
helps keep the checks tight, preventing
them from being baggy and loose. A torrid
French kiss exercises all the underlying
muscles of the face. The tension in the
muscles caused by a passionate kiss helps
smooth the skin and increases the
circulation.
3. Kissing is a known stress-reliever.
Passionate kissing relieves tension, reduces
negative energy and produces a sense of
well being, lowering your cortisol “stress”
hormone. Kissing is also like meditation.
“Kissing is an exciting excursion into the
sensual,” says psychologist and clinical
sexologist Joy Davidson. “If we happen to
be connecting with someone we care
about, it produces a sense of well-being
and a kind of full-bodied pleasure.” Hence,
a kiss can suppress anxiety and produce
physiological changes that meditation can
do.
4. Kissing is also good for the heart, as
it creates an adrenaline which causes your
heart to pump more blood around your
body. Frequent kissing has scientifically
been proven to stabilize cardiovascular
activity, decrease blood pressure and
cholesterol.
5. Kissing is relaxing. According to
scientists, kissing can increase the oxytocin
and endorphin levels. Oxytocin is the
body’s natural calming chemical while
endorphin is the fell-good chemical. The
endorphins produced by kissing are 200
times more powerful than morphine.
Swapping spit is also noted to increase
dopamine, which aids in feelings of
romantic attachment.
6. Kissing helps flush out bacteria.
During kissing, the extra saliva washes
bacteria off the teeth, consequently helping
break down oral plaque. This means kissing
can help prevent tooth decay and cavities.
During a kiss, natural antibiotics are also
secreted in the saliva. Furthermore, the
saliva contains a type of anesthetic that
helps relieve pain.
7. Kissing boosts immunity. All that
swapping spit exchanges germs, too, which
forces your body to produce antibodies to
prevent you from getting sick. It’s like
getting a vaccination, so keep the kisses
coming in order to keep you healthy.
According to the study by the journal
Medical Hypotheses, kissing can increase
women’s immunity from Cytomegalovirus.
This virus is transmitted through mouth to
mouth contract and can cause infant
blindness and other birth defects if the
mother is a carrier during pregnancy.
However, it is relatively harmless for
adults. Thus, kissing can be a way to pass
along bugs, thereby strengthening the
body’s defenses.
8. Kissing is a “mate assessment tool”
as described by anthropologist Helen
Fisher. The most sensitive feelings can be
picked up by the lips, cheeks, tongue and
nose. Out of 12 cranial nerves, five of them
are picking up information from around the
mouth. Thus, you can really hear, see and
feel the person you are kissing. Kissing is
not anymore just a “kissing” activity, but
more of an expression of who you are, what
you want and what you can give.
Moreover, kissing has been viewed by
many researchers as biology’s way of
determining which people are most
compatible with genetically. “At the
moment of the kiss, there are hard-wired
mechanisms that assess health,
reproductive status and genetic
compatibility,” says Gordon G. Gallup Jr., a
professor of evolutionary psychology at the
State University of New York at Albany.
“Therefore, what happens during that first
kiss can be a make-or-break proposition.”
9. Kissing can relieve allergies. In a
research conducted in Japan, it has been
shown that kissing can lower down the
body’s allergic reaction to pollen. “What
they did was study the blood levels of IgE,
an allergy antibody before and after 30
minutes of kissing their partner,” Dr. Lynda
Kabbash of Harvard Vanguard said.
Researchers say kissing also helped relieve
symptoms in patients with dermatitis, a
skin condition triggered by allergies.
10. Kissing keeps you younger. This is
an after effect of exercising your facial
muscles and toning them through kissing.
The relaxing effect of kissing can also help
fight out stress and you will remain happy
and younger-looking. Likewise, kissing
improves self-esteem. It makes you feel
appreciated and helps your state of mind.