A kiss a day will keep the doctor away

Graphic by Jenny Kwan

A look into how kissing is considered to be good for your health

For everyone who has had the pleasure of exchanging kisses with someone before, you know that the short – or long – moment that your lips meet another’s can warm your heart, put you in a happy, uplifting mood and make you want to repeat the action over and over again. But did you know that this wonderful worldwide celebrated expression of endearment is actually considered by experts to be good for your health?

According to professed “kissing expert,” Andrea Demirjian, author of Kissing – Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About One of Life’s Sweetest Pleasures, “a kiss a day really can keep the doctor away.”

Hailing from Manhattan, New York, Demirjian – whose expertise and philosophy has been featured in over 15 newspapers, eight magazines and showcased on dozens of radio broadcasts – explains five ways in which kissing can simply yet profoundly impact our physical lives in an interview with upwave.com.

Graphic by Jenny Kwan

First off, kissing can help reduce blood pressure.

“Kissing passionately gets your heartbeat revved in a healthy way that helps lower your blood pressure. It dilates your blood vessels…blood is flowing in a good, solid fashion and getting to all your vital organs.”

It can eliminate minor pain caused by headaches or cramps. The adrenaline and endorphins our bodies release when engaged in a heated, passionate kiss or intimate situation steers our attention clear of the pain allowing us to focus solely on the given moment.

When it comes to oral health, kissing can actually help fight off viruses and cavities. Demirjian explains that, “When you’re kissing, you’re secreting more saliva in your mouth [which is] the mechanism that washes away the plaque on your teeth that leads to cavities.” Research done for the journal Medical Hypotheses adds that women build immunity against infected partners by kissing them.

It also helps rejuvenate your 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.”

Doctor Sharon Stills, a naturopathic physician based in Tuscon, Arizona, also explains to sheknows.com that “kissing lowers cortisol levels, [which] is our stress hormone [that] has a negative effect on our immune system, endocrine system and brain health, specifically the hippocampus.”

Finally, believe it or not, it helps burn a few calories. Think about it — kissing can be a major full-face workout. You use your jaw, your lips, your cheeks and most importantly, your tongue. “Kissing and lovemaking can be a vigorous exercise if you’re fully engaged,” says Demirjian. “You need to have a passionate kiss [in order to burn those calories], but it doesn’t have to be a 10-hour make out session.” Who knew?

So there you have it. Kissing won’t necessarily help you beat off a disease, drop 20 pounds or lower your cholesterol, but it can help with some of the lesser worries of life. Something I’m sure most of us would be happy to add into our daily list of things to do.

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