Why KISSING is better for your health than shaking someone’s hand


  • Sheril Kirshenbaum is the author of The Science of Kissing
  • She says kissing reminds us of our first experiences of love and security, involving lip pressure and stimulation, such as being breast or bottle fed 
  • Kissing can spark the production of hormones that makes us fall in love 
  • Also puts us in close contact with future mates so we can smell them
  • Scent of man can provide subconscious clues about his DNA to a partner
  • People subconsciously prefer mates who have different immune systems
  • This would make future children strong and better able to fight disease 

Sheril Kirshenbaum For The Conversation

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Earlier this week, scientists came up with an evolutionary explanation for kissing which was far from romantic.

Kissing helps partners share millions of bacteria, shoring up their immune systems and enabling them to better fight disease, they said. 

As 80 million bacteria are transferred from mouth to mouth in a single ten-second kiss, some people might brand the act ‘unhygenic’.

In fact, you’re more likely to become ill after far less intimate contact, such as shaking someone’s hand, an expert has claimed.

Kissing is nature’s ‘litmus test’ helping us to choose a potential partner. We subconsciously smell our future mate and look for those with different immune systems to our own so future children can fight disease

Here, Sheril Kirshenbaum, the author of The Science of Kissing and Director of the Energy Poll at University of Texas at Austin, gives her view – and explains why kissing is so sensual…

The finding that we share about 80 million bacteria during a passionate ten-second kiss makes puckering up seem cringe-worthy – and downright unsanitary at the start of cold and flu season.

But take heart: we’re more likely to get sick by shaking hands throughout the day than through kissing. 

And the science behind this behaviour reveals that along with all of those germs, we share plenty of benefits with a partner as well. 

Kissing is not all about bacterial exchange or romance, however. 

Our first experiences with love and security usually involve lip pressure and stimulation through behaviours that mimic kissing, like nursing or bottle feeding. 

These early events lay down important neural pathways in a baby’s brain that associate kissing with positive emotions that continue to be important in throughout his life.

And our lips are the body’s most exposed erogenous zone. 

Unlike in other animals, human lips are uniquely everted, meaning they purse outwardly. 

Our first experiences of love and security, like being fed from a bottle, mimic kissing

They are packed with sensitive nerve endings so even the slightest brush sends a cascade of information to our brains, which can feel very good.

Kissing activates a very large part of the brain associated with sensory information.

Kisses work their magic by setting off a whirlwind of neurotransmitters and hormones through our bodies that influence how we think and feel.

KISSING CODES 

If there’s real ‘chemistry’ between two people, a kiss can set the stage for a new romance. 

A passionate kiss puts two people in very close proximity – nose to nose. 

We learn about each other by engaging our sense of smell, our taste buds and sense of touch. 

And through that information all sorts of signals are being sent to our brain informing us about the other person. 

In fact, the scent of man can provide subconscious clues about his DNA to his partner.

Evolutionary psychologists at the State University of New York at Albany found that 59 per cent of men and 66 per cent of women say they have ended a budding relationship because a kiss didn’t go well.

It’s nature’s ultimate litmus test, nudging us to be most attracted to the people that may be the best genetic partners.

Research by Swiss biologist Claus Wedekind found women are most attracted to the scents of men who carry a different genetic code for their immune system in a region of DNA known as the major histocompatibility complex or MHC.

However, women who take contraceptive pills show preferences towards men with immune systems similar to their own

Scientists suspect that when a couple who carry distinctly different genetics for fighting disease, their children are likely to benefit by having a strong immune system. 

We may not exactly be thinking about parenthood when we connect with someone at the lips, but kissing provides clues to help us decide whether to take a relationship further. 

However, it’s important to add that women who take the birth control pill show the opposite preference toward men with MHC genetics most like their own. 

This suggests that when we are on contraceptives, we may be fooling our bodies in more ways than we realise.

GETTING HOT UNDER THE COLLAR  

Aside from helping us find a great match, kissing has other perks as well. It sets off a cascade of neural impulses that bounce between the brain and the tongue, lips, facial muscles, and skin. 

Billions of little nerve connections distribute information around the body, producing chemical signals that change the way we feel.

A passionate kiss can spike the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is linked to feelings of craving and desire. 

Oxytocin, known as the ‘love hormone,’ fosters a sense of closeness and attachment. Adrenaline boosts our heart rate and can make us start sweating as our bodies begin to anticipate what might occur later.

Cortisol, known as the stress hormone, also dips to reduce uneasiness. Blood vessels dilate, breathing can deepen, cheeks flush and our pulse quickens.

Kissing also sparks the production of hormones that make us fall in love, as well as solidifying the bonds we share with family members and friends

Kissing fosters the sensations we often describe when we are falling in love. 

In this way, a kiss can herald in a new romantic relationship. It can also solidify the strong bonds we share with family members and friends. 

Kisses come in many varieties and are inherently tied to the most meaningful and significant moments of our lives by providing a means to communicate beyond what words can convey.

Science has barely begun to study kissing, despite its obvious evolutionary and personal significance, but what we already know demonstrates that there’s a lot more to going on than meets the eyes – and lips.

This article was written for The Conversation website. 

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