Whether it’s the prequel to sex or your main event, making out feels incredible. But besides it feeling great, “French kissing” is also good for your health (side note: did you know that there wasn’t a French word for “French kissing” until recently? More on that).
Back to kissing being good for you – here are the reasons why.
It Deepens Your Relationship
The most common problem that affects people in long-term relationships is a loss of intimacy.
Even if a couple is still having sex from time to time, they may be doing it in an automated way versus focusing on connection. Making out is one way to work on that connection and requires both partners to work together in intimacy.
When you kiss someone, your body releases oxytocin – yes, the “love hormone”. Oxytocin helps to facilitate feelings of attachment and affection, in turn helping you bond.
Remember that you don’t have to be in a committed relationship to bond with someone and feel a connection to them.
Helps To Relieve Stress
Need to unwind after a long day of work? Then it’s time to pucker up.
Humans are social creatures that thrive in community and relationships, so it makes sense that our bodies are wired to destress by connecting.
The stress hormone cortisol can build up in your system, especially when you’re having a difficult week or are dealing with anxiety.
When you kiss someone, it lowers cortisol levels and helps relieve stress. Cuddling and sex are other ways to lower cortisol.
There’s also a direct link between kissing, stress, and heart health.
It’s not uncommon to feel your blood pressure rise when you’re feeling stressed or anxious, and kissing can help you with that too. Kissing increases your heart rate, which in turn dilates your blood vessels. This helps to increase your overall blood flow and decrease your blood pressure.
Strengthens Your Immune System
If you have any level of germaphobia, then the idea of swapping saliva with someone else may turn you off, but making out can be beneficial for the immune system.
This world is full of microbes, some of which are harmful, but most of them we live in harmony with and are actually beneficial, or at least neutral, to our well-being.
Those microbes are everywhere, including in your mouth – and the mouth of whoever you’re kissing.
When you kiss someone deeply, it helps to increase the flow of saliva, exposing you and your partner to new germs that can help strengthen both of your immune systems. That increased flow of saliva also helps to keep your teeth, gums, and mouth healthy.
It Makes Sex Better
This may seem like common sense, but sometimes we need a little reminder – making out can make sex better.
In one study, researchers studied how specific kissing (kissing that happens during sex) and global kissing (just day-to-day kissing) affected couples’ sex lives. They found that couples who kissed more during sex tended to have more sex overall.
Also, the women in the study who reported kissing more during sex also reported having more orgasms during sex. A logical conclusion is that kissing during sex means you have more sex and more orgasms, especially for women.
While kissing increases arousal, the increase in orgasms may also be due to the closeness and bonding that you get when you kiss someone, something that tends to be more important for the female orgasm.
Kissing during sex can boost your sex drive in another way. Do you know what else is in your saliva besides microbes? Testosterone. Yes, that testosterone.
The more you kiss someone, the more testosterone is released, which can in turn help increase sexual arousal for everyone involved.
All that being said, remember that sometimes it’s fun to make out just for the sake of it, without any goal in mind.
It’s a Great Pain Reliever
Headache got you down? Experiencing menstrual cramps? Making out can help with that too.
Remember how we talked about how kissing increases blood flow by dilating your blood vessels? Well, that’s key for pain relief. When your blood flow is increased it can help to relieve everything from cramps to headaches.
That’s not the only way making out helps to relieve pain. All those feel-good hormones can have quite a positive effect on pain.
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