Hmmmm.... The kiss? It can be so many
things: sweet, loving, awkward, intense,
transporting, disappointing, boring, sublime, life altering.
On the delicious and passionate side of the
spectrum, a smooch can be a heart-healthy micro
workout, a hormone releaser and a mood booster.
It's also fun -- and a great way to connect with the
person you care about.
"Sex, as wonderful as it is, can be perfunctory,"
says Andréa Demirjian, author of " Kissing:
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about One
of Life's Sweetest Pleasures ." "Kissing is intimate:
You're right there in the space of your soul. It gets
to the core of your heart and spirit because it's
such a lovely way to express and receive love and
affection. A kiss a day really can keep the doctor away."
1. Kissing helps reduce blood pressure
Making out isn't just good for your emotional
heart, it gives your anatomical one a workout, too.
"Kissing passionately gets your heartbeat revved in
a healthy way that helps lower your blood
pressure," says Demirjian. "It dilates your blood
vessels -- blood is flowing in a good, solid fashion
and getting to all your vital organs."
2. Kissing zaps cramps and headaches
"Kissing is great if you have a headache or
menstrual cramps," says Demirjian. You may be
inclined to wave away advances when you're
curled into an achy ball, but the blood-vessel
dilation brought on by a good long smooching
session can really help ease your pain. In fact,
Demirjian recommends replacing the ol' "Not
tonight, dear -- I have a headache" line with,
"Honey, I have a headache. Come kiss me!"
3. Kissing fights cavities
A smooch-a-thon gets all, er, fluids flowing --
including your saliva. "When you're kissing, you're
secreting more saliva in your mouth," says
Demirjian. "That's the mechanism that washes
away the plaque on your teeth that leads to
cavities." (So much more fun than gargling!)
4. Kissing amps up your happy hormones
"If you're feeling stressed or rundown, a little
kissing or lovemaking [is] actually the elixir you
need to... feel better," says Demirjian. "It will
relax, restore and revitalize you.... The feel-good
chemicals in the brain get percolating: serotonin,
dopamine, oxytocin -- things you can get from the
rush of exercising."
5. Kissing burns (a few) calories
It can't compare to 30 minutes on the elliptical,
but a vigorous makeout session can burn 8 to 16
calories per smooch, says Demirjian. "Kissing and
lovemaking can be a vigorous exercise if you're
fully engaged," she says. "You need to have a
passionate kiss [in order to burn those calories],
but it doesn't have to be a 10-hour makeout
session."
6. Kissing boosts self-esteem
One German study found that men who got a nice
juicy kiss from their wives before leaving for work
made more money. "If he leaves his home happy,
he's more productive at work because he's not
feeling emotionally distressed, so he's going to
make more money," explains Demirjian. "Kissing
has so much to do with your self-esteem and
feeling loved and connected."
7. Kissing can give you a facelift (kind of)
Per Demirjian, deep kissing can shape up the neck
and jawline, which are often trouble spots for
those concerned about looking older. "Your mouth
has a number of facial muscles," she says. "When
those are engaged in kissing, you can tighten and
tone them."
8. Kissing is a barometer for sexual
compatibility
It can be an excellent way to check out a potential
partner for sexual compatibility before getting
naked and emotionally involved, says Demirjian.
But if your very first liplock with a new partner is
meh, she recommends giving him or her one more
shot.
"Sometimes during the first kiss, people are
feeling awkward, nervous or embarrassed," she
says. "That might not breed the most seductive,
sexy experience." Second kiss is crappy, too?
That's your cue to take your lips -- and the rest of
you -- elsewhere.
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