Have you ever been commended for kissing?
The world really loves PDAs when they’re done right. Nearly every morning, bleary-eyed and coffee perked, the Monkey and I leave the house and walk together. He, to the metro and I to my office at a charter school. When we reach the corner where we part ways, we always embrace and kiss. And nearly every time that happens, the kiss becomes one of those long sweet kisses that cause you to forget you’re in public, you’re freezing, you’re late… no external reality intrudes on the senses of the moment because this kiss is all-comsuming. Then we give a couple more quick pecks and rush off in different directions.
One day, a couple weeks ago, a co-worker “caught” us kissing, and told me later, “You two looked like a movie.”
Another day, after that, a different co-worker told me, “I was at my window the other morning and saw you and and your husband kissing goodbye. That just made my day. I thought, that’s the way it ought to be.”
And yesterday, during my morning ritual of making bento lunches for the Monkey and I, he interrupted me with a nuzzle that turned into a passionate kiss. As he walked away, he said, “Baby, we kiss like people at the airport.” When I asked him to explain, he said, “We kiss like people who’ve just seen each other again after a long time, but it’s only been a few minutes.”
So I’ve been thinking. Why am I so happy about all this kissing? Why is everyone else so happy about all this kissing?
I found some help – and confirmation of my suspicions that kissing pretty great.
A neat little blog called Bestkisses.com shares 10 Health Benefits of Kissing – largely pulled from this great article on the psychology of kissing.
- Those who kiss their partner goodbye each morning live five years longer than those who don’t.
- Kissing is great for self-esteem. It makes you feel appreciated and helps your state of mind.
- Kissing burns calories, 2-3 calories a minute and can double your metabolic rate. Research claims that three passionate kisses a day (at least lasting 20 seconds each) will cause you to loose an entire extra pound! It’s time to start that kissing diet!
- 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 uses 30 facial muscles and it helps keep the facial muscles tight, preventing baggy cheeks! The tension in the muscles caused by a passionate kiss helps smooth the skin and increases the circulation.
- Kissing is 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.
- Those who kiss quite frequently are less likely to suffer from stomach, bladder and blood infections.
- During a kiss, natural antibiotics are secreted in the saliva. Also, the saliva contains a type of anesthetic that helps relieve pain.
- Kissing reduces anxiety and stops the ‘noise’ in your mind. It increases the levels of oxytocin, an extremely calming hormone that produces a feeling of peace.
- The endorphins produced by kissing are 200 times more powerful than morphine.
So – what’s stopping you? Kiss, you fool!
