Most people are used to kissing since they were children because they regularly kissed their parents, just to show affection to their partner, or any other way to show affection in some cultures.
But while kissing is something that is done regularly, there are many facts about it that aren’t well-known. Here are five of the most interesting:
Kisses from parents can help the development of their child
Kissing a baby on the lips actually increases their ability to recognize another person ‘like them’, and this all depends on the reaction their brains have towards the touch. A study took place last year by the University of Washington Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS) where they used infant brain imaging to discover how the hand, foot, and lips are viewed in the brains of 2-month-old babies.
During this study, the researchers used a hand-held wand to lightly tap each infants’ left foot, left hand, and the middle of their upper lip. The results showed that the strongest reaction that occurred in the brain of the infant was caused when the middle of the upper lip was touched. This response wasn’t too surprising for the researchers as a baby’s lips are used for sucking and also to communicate their language.
During this long-term research experiment, nearly 500 people, aged around 34-years-old, were observed with their mothers by a psychologist when they were 8 months old. The outcome conveyed those high levels of warmth and affection, such as kissing a baby, are associated with less distress in their adult life. Therefore, concluding that the amount of maternal affection a baby receives as young as 8 months old has a long-lasting impact on their mental health.
Kissing can boost your immune system
As many as 80 million bacteria are transferred during a ten-second kiss, according to Dutch biologists. Sharing those germs means both partners are equipped to ward off the infections they might introduce to each other later on.
Humans carry trillions of bacteria in the body, which together make up a ‘microbiota’ – a complex mix of bugs that play a crucial role in digesting food and warding off infections.
Remco Kort, from the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (or TNO), said: “Interestingly, the current explanations for the function of intimate kissing in humans include an important role for the microbiota present in the oral cavity, although to our knowledge, the exact effects of intimate kissing on the oral microbiota have never been studied”.
“We wanted to find out the extent to which partners share their oral microbiota, and it turns out, the more a couple kiss, the more similar they are.”
The researchers, whose findings are published in the journal Microbiome, found that couples who share nine intimate kisses a day had a very similar microbiota, meaning they would be better prepared to deal with similar infections and digest similar food.
Kissing can reduce stress and relax you
As kissing helps reduce cortisol levels, it could potentially enhance your feelings of self-worth, as the stress levels are on a decline. The stress-reducing effect of kissing facilitates motivation in our behavior, and hence reduces anxiety.
Kissing and other affectionate communication, like hugging and saying “I love you,” impacts the physiological processes related to stress management.
Most people kiss tilting their heads to the right
Two-thirds of people tilt their heads to the right when they kiss. Weirdly, this is a habit you might pick up before you’re even born, according to Women’s Health. Most fetuses tilt their head to the right while in the womb as well.
Humans aren’t the only animals that kiss
Cows, puffins, squirrels, and even snails also kiss, although chimpanzees are the only animals whose kisses resemble a human kiss. All the other ones look like awkward face-touching.
