Sometimes when you’ve been with your partner for a long time, you don’t lock lips as much as you did when you were just getting together and falling in love. But maybe we all should be making out more often because science shows it leads to some cool health benefits. Here are the mental and physical perks of puckering up and kissing.
It calms you down - Any kind of kissing, even a quick peck on the cheek can make you feel more relaxed. And heavy makeout sessions intensify the effect because your body produces more oxytocin, the hormone that triggers feelings of love and intimacy. Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami explains, “The more people touch each other, the more peaceful they feel.”
It tells you if you’ve found a good match - According to a study in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, kissing can help you find the right partner. Lips have sebaceous glands that produce pheromones, chemicals that could play a role in attraction. So when you’re locking lips with someone new, you’re basically sampling and testing out that person’s pheromones to see if they’re a good fit.It creates a better bond - That same study finds that couples who kiss more often tend to have happier relationships than those who don’t. And this has nothing to do with how often they have sex. It seems kissing can release endorphins, lower stress, and even help you match mentally. Field says that one study found people’s brainwaves sync during romantic kissing and their breathing and heart rates do too. She calls kissing “a really potent bonding activity.”
Source: Shape