{"id":17698,"date":"2020-06-17T14:59:18","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T12:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intimina.com\/blog\/?p=17698"},"modified":"2022-02-23T11:30:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T10:30:00","slug":"lets-talk-about-kissing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intimina.com\/blog\/lets-talk-about-kissing\/","title":{"rendered":"School of Intimacy: Let’s Talk about Kissing!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sweet smooches. Precious pecks. Mischievous makeouts. Naughty nuzzles.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right – we\u2019re talking about kissing.<\/p>\n

When you think about it rationally, kissing is weird. I\u2019m going to take my mouth and press it against yours. Then we might move our mouths around, even getting some tongue action involved. If you\u2019re an alien coming to Earth, who\u2019s never heard of the practice, it may seem like some bizarre ritual.<\/p>\n

In fact, it\u2019s one of the most natural things for us to do. Kissing is how many of us show affection for friends, family, and of course – lovers.<\/p>\n

While kissing can come in all different shapes and forms, for the sake of this article, we\u2019re going to be focusing on the romantic and sexual variety.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get to it, and talk about everything you\u2019ve ever wanted to know about kissing.<\/p>\n

Down To Science<\/h2>\n

Kissing. It\u2019s an art. But it\u2019s also a science, and it\u2019s called Philematology<\/a>. Aka, the science of kissing.<\/p>\n

The root comes from the Greek word \u201cphilos\u201d, meaning \u201cearthly love\u201d. I don\u2019t know about you, but this certainly makes my heart swoon. What better embodies earthly love than a passionate kiss?<\/p>\n

Sharing is Caring<\/h2>\n

While kissing, people exchange all sorts of fun bacteria and organisms. A hot makeout can introduce as many as eighty million new bacteria and microorganisms from you to your partner.<\/p>\n

Much like taking an oral probiotic, kissing can increase<\/a> the variety of bacteria within the oral microbiome, which can potentially lead to a stronger immune system. Given that the kissers are not immunocompromised.<\/p>\n

These organisms often travel in on the average of nine milliliters of water that\u2019s also swapped in the process. Science may be just as weird as kissing. But also, really cool.<\/p>\n

Happy Hormones<\/h2>\n

Getting your smooch on causes a cascade of feel good hormones and endorphins like dopamine, oxytocin<\/a>, and serotonin. It can even lower cortisol levels<\/a>\u00a0giving you instant stress relief!<\/p>\n

Also within saliva is testosterone<\/a>, which helps get the engines revving if you\u2019re taking this further than kissing.<\/p>\n

Lip Action<\/h2>\n

Designed with pleasure in mind, nature has made the lips one of the most, if not the most sensitive area on the human body. The extremely thin skin and high amount of nerve receptors can make even the gentlest of kisses light you up from your toes to your scalp.<\/p>\n

Do it For Fitness<\/h2>\n

Kissing is an awesome way to engage the many muscles in your face and mouth. One of these muscles is called the Orbicularis Oris<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Orb, like a circle, because it allows the mouth to create a round, puckering shape. This is why it\u2019s often called the \u201ckissing muscle\u201d.<\/p>\n

All that muscle-building means kissing can burn up to twenty-six calories per minute. How\u2019s that for fitness?<\/p>\n

Not that you needed an excuse to smooch.<\/p>\n

Sweet Union<\/h2>\n

When the tongue gets involved, this is often called a \u201cFrench kiss\u201d. But why? What do the French call it?<\/p>\n

While fairly liberal in their approach to romance and sex, the French called tongue action \u201csoul kissing\u201d, because it feels like your soul is merging with your partner\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Not Just for Humans<\/h2>\n

We\u2019re not the only ones that do it.<\/p>\n

Bonobos and chimpanzees have been shown<\/a> to kiss and embrace after a fight, as a form of reconciliation.<\/p>\n

Bonobos also kiss with their tongues just like us, while chimps stick to open mouth kissing, sans tongue.<\/p>\n

The Body Knows<\/h2>\n

Kissing sparks up intuition. The saying \u201ctrue love\u2019s first kiss\u201d didn\u2019t come from nowhere. All fairytale nonsense aside, there is a knowing that awakens when you first kiss someone.<\/p>\n

It may be a \u201cyuck, no thanks\u201d, or maybe \u201cyeah, sure, I\u2019m curious\u201d, or in some cases \u201cYES, YES, YES, MORE YES\u201d. No matter the reaction, a kiss can tell you a lot. Like which direction you want this encounter or relationship to go, or not go.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just intuition of course. Swapping saliva, also means swapping pheromone rich sebum. These pheromones<\/a>\u00a0may help indicate whether or not someone is a good biological match for you – whether or not baby making is on the agenda for you.<\/p>\n

Of course, this evidence is extremely heteronormative, and does not account for the wide variances in human sexuality.<\/p>\n

Keep on Kissing On<\/h2>\n

Kissing is one of the most powerful tools we have in terms of physical human connection.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know about you, but all this information has got me ready to grab my boo and pucker up.<\/p>\n

Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sweet smooches. Precious pecks. Mischievous makeouts. Naughty nuzzles. That\u2019s right – we\u2019re talking about kissing. When you think about it rationally, kissing is weird. I\u2019m going to take my mouth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":17699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLet's Talk about Kissing - The Science of Lip Action<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kissing is one of the most powerful tools we have in terms of physical human connection. 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