You know getting a peck feels oh so good, but have you ever stopped to wonder why? Two people putting their lips against each other – kissing is pretty weird when you stop to think about it. We have some good news, lovebirds – there are actually health and emotional benefits from puckering up!
Today is International Kissing Day, so celebrating by planting a big smooch on your favorite guy/girl/puppy and learning a little bit about kissing.
1. When you kiss someone for the first time, you get a spike in the neurotransmitter dopamine, making you crave more.
Gimme gimme more.
2. Dopamine can also make you lose your appetite and make it hard for you to sleep.
As if it isn’t hard enough to sleep when you overanalyzing every second of your date.
3. The muscle you use to pucker your lips is called the “orbicularis oris.”
Try saying that five times fast.
4. Your lips have a disproportionate number of nerve endings compared to other parts of your body.
All the literal feels.
5. When your lips touch someone else’s, five out of 12 of your cranial nerves are engaged.
Smooch away.
6. 43% of people would rather kiss their pet than their friends or family.
#FutureCatLadiesUnite
7. Kissing helps us work out if someone is a good match.
So that’s why Kaitlyn keeps making out with everyone on The Bachelorette…
8. Kissing lowers your levels of stress hormone cortisol, making you feel safe and secure.
So if you’re feeling stressed, you need to lock lips ASAP.
9. It’s a mini-workout: Kissing burns 26 calories per minute.
So enjoy a red velvet cupcake (or two), and make up for it later with an extended make out sesh.
10. Most people remember their first kiss more vividly than the first time they had sex.
John Bohannon of Butler University asked 500 people about their memories of important life experiences, including their first kiss and losing their virginity. The kiss beat everything as the most detailed memory.
11. One of the more surprising perks of puckering up is a cleaner mouth. The increase in saliva production that comes along with a kiss can wash bacteria off teeth and help prevent plaque buildup.
More make outs and fewer trips to the dentist = win-win.
12. Kissing triggers the release of oxytocin aka the “love hormone” in your body.
And I thought I couldn’t blame my hormones for anything after I turned 24!
13. When you kiss someone, your heart beats faster and more oxygen reaches your brain.
Get that cardio work in.
14. Kissing also causes your pupils to dilate.
This might be the reason we close our eyes during a DFMO.
15. Ladies use kissing to assess potential mates, while men use it to increase the likelihood of sex.
They had to hold a study to find out men are trying to have sex? I could have told you that.
16. Endorphins released during kissing bring on waves of euphoria.
Especially when it’s during an intense PDA session that makes everyone around you uncomfortable.
17. Two thirds of people tilt their head to the right when they kiss.
We’re guessing Derek Zoolander is in that 66%. Experts think this instinct originates from the womb when we naturally tilted our heads to the right.
18. The world record for the longest kiss is held by a Thai couple who locked lips for 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds.
Which is 57 hours, 33 minutes, and 17 seconds longer than I like to hang out with most people.
19. Studies show that men live up to five years longer if they kiss their wife before going to work.
But if they don’t want to kiss before work, maybe they don’t want those extra years?
20. Kissing can also lower your blood pressure, as those butterflies fluttering around your stomach and getting your heart pumping wildly cause your blood vessels to dilate.
Do it for your health, people.
21. There’s actually a word for the studying of kissing: philematology.
If you’re into watching other people MO.
22. French kissing involves all 34 muscles in the face. A pucker kiss involves only two.
Don’t be lazy, go for the French.
23. The mouth is full of bacteria. When two people kiss, they exchange between 10 million and 1 billion bacteria.
HOT. So glad I know that.
24. 10% of the world doesn’t kiss.
Yup, apparently some societies prefer nibbling or licking.
25. Some women give off a scent when they are ovulating that is picked up by men when they are kissing. It could be subconscious, but it turns men on.
Primal instincts, baby.
26. “Kiss” is from the Old English cyssan from the proto-Germanic kussijanan or kuss.
It’s probably based on the sound kissing can make.
27. The insulting slang “kiss my ass” dates back at least to 1705.
When butts were a whole lot dirtier.
28. Common chimpanzees kiss with open mouths, but not with their tongues. Bonobos, the most intelligent of primates, do kiss with their tongues.
We’re all just monkeys anyway.
29. The Four Vedic Sanskrit texts written in 1500 B.C. contain the first mention of a kiss in writing.
You don’t want to mess with tradition, do you?
30. A woman in China partially lost her hearing after her boyfriend reportedly ruptured her eardrum with a passionate kiss.
Apparently, the kiss reduced the pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out, and caused the breakdown of the ear. Ouch.
31. Kissing at the conclusion of a wedding ceremony can be traced to ancient Roman tradition where a kiss was used to sign contract.
The husband may now sign on the dotted line.
32. Diseases which can be transmitted through kissing include mononucleosis and herpes.
Not so fun fact.
33. It is possible for a woman to reach an orgasm through kissing.
Going to go test this theory…now.
