Since Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, I thought I would share some facts I learned about kissing.
- It’s in his kiss! Science has revealed that our senses are heightened during a kiss. We even subconsciously pick up on our partner’s traits, like health and genetics! Emily Goodman states in Reader’s Digest that a kiss can be a “make-or-break moment: 59 percent of men and 66 percent of women say they have ended things after a bad one.” It could be because lips are 100 times more sensitive than the tips of your fingers. Wow!
- Kissing is not limited to humans. Chimpanzees kiss their loved ones also.
- Kissing involves about 30 facial muscles and can burn two to six calories per minute! Puckering up only takes two muscles.
- Philematology is the study of kissing. I never knew it was an actual thing to study! I wonder what degree you need to get that job.
- Star Trek really is futuristic! The first interracial kiss took place in an episode in 1968. The film Don Juan has the most kisses; John Barrymore and Mary Astor share 127 kisses!
- Kissing in public is illegal in Dubai. One couple was caught kissing in a public bathroom and were sentenced to one month in prison!
- When illiteracy was the norm during the medieval era, people would use an “X” as their signature and then kiss the mark to make is legal and binding. That’s where the saying “sealed with a kiss” comes from, as well as why the x’s in xoxo represent a kiss. This could be why a wedding ceremony ends in a kiss, a binding contract between husband and wife.
- The longest ever recorded kiss took place in London on July 5-6, 2005, involving a couple who locked lips for 31 hours 30 minutes and 30 seconds.
- It is said to be possible for a woman to reach orgasm through kissing. Now, that’s when you know it’s a good kiss!
- One study found that men are more particular than women about who they kiss, but not as particular as to who they have sex with. So, this study suggests that men value kissing over lovemaking.
- Over 400,00 tourist flock to Ireland every year to kiss the Blarney Stone, making it the most unhygienic tourist stop in the world.
- In American films from 1930-1968, the Hays Code set rules of decency for filmmakers. Some of the rules were that couples could not be horizontal while kissing, bedroom scenes with couples had to use two separate beds, if there was a kissing scene in bed, one member’s foot had to be on the floor and one member must be sitting or standing, and no kiss could last more than three seconds.
- The Kama Sutra has 30 different types of kisses!
- A German researcher found that about two-thirds of people tilt their head to the right when kissing. And this originates in the womb! I guess mom really does know best.
- People who kiss more have better dental health. Kissing produces saliva, which rinse and forms a protective barrier on teeth. I wonder why my dentist doesn’t just tell me to kiss my husband more often?
References
Case, William. The Art of Kissing. 2nd ed. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1995.
Goodman, Emily. Reader’s Digest. Pucker Up! Facts About Kissing. Feb 2021.
“Happy Valentine’s Day!” Guinness World Records News. February 14, 2008.
Lehnardt, Karin. 22 Nov 2016 updated 9 Sept 2019. 48 Wild But True Kissing Facts | FactRetriever.com
YourTango. Womens Health Magazine. 23 May 2014. 15 Crazy Facts About Kissing (womenshealthmag.com)