The word “kiss” is derived from the Old English word cyssan. It is believed that in ancient times this word represented the sound that people made when they kissed each other. Let’s find out the interesting ten facts about kissing!
Kissing is definitely of the most pleasant activities and the way to demonstrate how much we love another person. Moreover, kissing is also healthy because it makes us happier, keeps blood flow through our body and in general brings positive emotions that contribute to our wellbeing.
That is why it is not surprising that everyone loves kissing, doesn’t they? It is such a natural process that most of us do not think about it as about something unique or unusual, however there are some facts that you should know about kissing. We are sure that some of them will certainly surprise you.
10 percent of the world population does not kiss
It is hard to believe but there is around 10% of people on the planet who do not kiss for the variety of reasons. Some of them simply do not like it, while others have never tried kissing or do not do it due to their cultural or religious reasons. There are some tribes in Sudan, for example, where people do not kiss because they believe that the mouth is a sacred place where the human soul lives. So, when you kiss another person, he or she can steal it.
Some animals also like kissing
Though this process among animals is probably not the same to our process of kissing, sometimes it looks very similar. The best kissers among animals are primates: they often demonstrate their kiss-like behaviour as the way of communication.
Non-primate animals also kiss each other quite often. For example, meerkats leak the scent glands of each other by marking the subordinate and the alpha. Another good examples is elephants – one of the most emotional and intelligent creatures on the planet. Sometimes they stick their trunks in each other’s mouths in order to get the feeling of comfort and consolation.
Kissing helps to clean the mouth
The most natural cleansing process of the mouth is kissing. This conclusion was reached by Heidi Hausauer, a spokesperson of the Academy of General Dentistry. The saliva cleans the mouth effectively and removes bacteria and food particles stuck between teeth. Of course, kissing cannot replace a toothpaste and toothbrush, but it can definitely contribute to the overall health of the mouth. That’s the fact you maybe wasn’t aware? Relating kissing to cleaning mouth isn’t maybe the most romantic things, but it’s a fact anyway.
Kissing helps to reduce stress
When you kiss someone, you body starts producing a very useful hormone oxytocin. Exactly this hormone is responsible for reducing anxiety and removing “noise” in your head. This is why, the more you kiss the more relaxed, peaceful and happy you feel. Psychologists recommend to start your day with a morning kiss – it will help you to fill your day with positive emotions and happiness regardless the amount of stress in your life.
Kissing world records
The current world record of the longest kiss belongs to the couple from Thailand who had been kissing for 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds in 2013 at Ripley’s Believe or Not Event. The previous record belonged to the couple Chen and Sarti: in 2004 they had been kissing for more than 31 hours. They had to stop, when one of them had almost passed out because of the lack of oxygen. Fortunately their story has a happy ending: they spent their prize money for their wedding.
Kissing is a facial workout
You can definitely consider kissing as one of the best facial exercised because 146 muscles are involved simultaneously in the process, 34 of which are facial and 112 are postural. So, even if you hate exercises and workout, now you know that actually you do it quite regularly unconsciously with the help of your lips and tongue.
Kissing is a science and profession
It might sound unbelievable but kissing today is not just a process anymore – it is science with its own name that is called philematology and can be literally translated from Greek as “earthly love”. The scientists, who work in this field are titled osculologists and they are solely focused on the study of kissing. So, if you still do not know which career path to choose and you think about something rare and unusual, philematology might be your chance to make a statement.
2 weeks of your life you spend on kissing
The scientists have found out that an average person spends 20160 minutes of his or her life on kissing, which is equal to two weeks. But do not consider it as the waste of time: at least for 2 weeks in your life you had been doing something that you really liked and enjoyed, and that made you really happy.
Your kissing style is developed in the womb
When people kiss, they have to tilt their head either to right or left side because of such obstacle as the nose. An interesting fact is that 75% of population tilts their head to the right, which is, according to the scientists’ conclusion, is genetic. There are more people leaning their head to the right while kissing because it is the exact direction of the embryo in the mother’s womb.
Phobia of kissing
There are thousands phobias in the world: while some of them are quite common, others are quite strange and even unbelievable. Though most people really like and enjoy kissing, there are also people who are absolutely afraid of it. Such phobia is called philemaphobia and it is usually common among young and an inexperienced kissers.
In most cases it is easily treated once a person starts practicing in kissing and get more experienced. However sometimes experience is helpless, and even a therapist cannot help. It is such a pity because people simply do not understand of what a wonderful pleasure they deprive themselves.
