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5 reasons why kissing is so good for you

20.2.2024

Translation: Katherine Martin

People who smooch regularly live longer. If you need a reason to kiss more often, here are five.

One touch, over 100 activated muscles plus millions of exchanged bacteria. Not much stimulates your body and soul quite like a passionate kiss. It strengthens your immune system and can sometimes be the ignition for great sex. And already back in the 1980s, scientists at Kiel University discovered that men who kiss their wives passionately before work live longer. They proved to be less aggressive and therefore less likely to get into a car accident.

Even if this is more of a loose connection, one thing’s certain. If you spend more time passionately kissing, you’ll be more relaxed, happier and healthier. Here are five reasons why kissing is so healthy.

Consent between the kissing parties is, of course, assumed.

Kissing: an ancient but not a universal practice

A kiss is one of the most beautiful forms of physical affection between two people. A sexual-romantic kiss isn’t a new invention of love-crazed screenwriters.

People have actually been kissing each other on the lips out of love and affection for at least 4,500 years. Researchers presented this finding in a study published in 2023 in the journal Science. This means that the practice of kissing is around one thousand years older than previously assumed. The romantic kiss was already documented in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt around 2,500 BC.

By the way, as natural as kissing may seem to you, mouth-to-mouth contact is not a universal expression of affection. A US-American study involving test subjects from 168 cultures revealed that only about 46 per cent of people worldwide use kissing as a romantic gesture. Lovers from the Trobriand Islands near New Guinea, for example, prefer to nibble their beloved’s eyelashes.

How the first kiss (probably) came to be

No matter how you go about it, kissing and other signs of affection bring people very close together. It’s an exchange of feelings along with a whole range of information.

In her book The Science of Kissing, science journalist Sheril Kirshenbaum describes what a kiss says about the compatibility between you and your favourite person. By exchanging your smell, saliva and pheromones, it already becomes apparent how similar the kissing couple are biologically and immunologically. The better the kiss, the more different the genetic material. And the fitter the offspring.

Theories about why people kiss range from kissing as a means of mate selection to far more rudimentary approaches such as pre-mastication, the «kiss-feeding» between mothers and their children. One thing’s certain. There’s no definitive answer as to why people kiss. Social and cultural factors are also likely to play a role alongside biological factors, as the aforementioned international study shows.

In any case, kissing is simply pleasurable. And even if scientists disagree about the nature and origin of kissing, the fact remains that kissing is good for the soul – and the body too.

Why kisses feel so good

A good kiss has the power to make you go weak at the knees and fly to the highest heights. It catapults your mood to a natural high and improves your health.

1. Kissing boosts your immune system

Not only is kissing fun, it’s also great for your health. A study published in 2014 concluded that up to 80 million bacteria are exchanged during a 10-second kiss. According to the researchers, this both trains and strengthens the immune system and also equalises the composition of the oral microflora of both kissing partners.

The saliva flow stimulated by kissing also reduces the risk of tooth decay and, according to a study by allergist Hajime Kimatan, a 30-second kiss even reduces allergic reactions to dust mites.

2. Kissing kills stress

Inhale, exhale, smooch. Kissing keeps you healthy all over – not just your body, but also your mind. Although smooching makes your heart beat faster, regular kissing sessions, like other affective body contact, lowers the cortisol in your blood and, subsequently, your stress levels. This was revealed by studies on college students conducted by American neuroscientist Wendy Hill. After 15 minutes of kissing, the stress levels of both partners were significantly lower than before.

The calming effect of touch on your nervous system is also described by neuroscientist Rebecca Böhme in her book Human Touch and in an interview with Galaxus.

Reference books

Human Touch

German, Rebecca Boehme, 2019

3. Kissing gets you high

It’s not just your body’s own stress hormone cortisol that’s influenced by kissing. Other hormones also get in the mood for love when you’re smooching. For example, the bonding and cuddling hormone oxytocin. This hormone’s released when you’re kissing and strengthens the bond men have with their partners. It also strengthens the bond between parents and children and reduces anxiety, as studies have shown.

Other neurotransmitters also flood your brain when you kiss. You could say they get you high. For example, the happiness hormones serotonin and dopamine, but also adrenaline and endorphins make kissing such an exciting activity between two people.

By the way, if you kiss often, your hormones adapt to your partner. While the man’s testosterone levels will fall, the woman’s will rise. According to a study conducted by the University of Pisa, this keeps the spark lovers experience early on alive for longer.

4. Kissing: a sport for people who’re not sporty

Exercise reduces stress too. But why bust a gut working out when you could lie in bed with your loved one and kiss? Making out activates about 30 muscles in the face and 100 elsewhere. Like exercise, kissing stimulates the circulation and blood flow. Depending on how much effort you’re putting in, kissing burns 20 kilocalories per minute. After half an hour of lively smooching, you’ll have burned about twice as much as a 30-minute treadmill session.

5. A kiss for eternal youth

Although it may sound like a promise from a princess story, regular kissing really can make you look younger and fresher. This is because the blood flow stimulated by kissing promotes the formation of collagen, a protein that increases the elasticity of the skin. What’s more, the surge of hormones it releases ensures your skin cells are better able to regenerate. Even if you can’t stop the ageing process, it sure is worth a try if you get a good kiss out of it.

Header image: shutterstock

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Olivia Leimpeters-Leth

Autorin von customize mediahouse

oliver.fischer@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm a sucker for flowery turns of phrase and allegorical language. Clever metaphors are my Kryptonite – even if, sometimes, it's better to just get to the point. Everything I write is edited by my cat, which I reckon is more «pet humanisation» than metaphor. When I'm not at my desk, I enjoy going hiking, taking part in fireside jamming sessions, dragging my exhausted body out to do some sport and hitting the occasional party.

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