6 Amazing Things That May Happen To Your Body When You Kiss Someone For The First Time
Discover surprising reactions and hidden benefits your body experiences during initial embraces.
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A girl never forgets her first kiss with her partner. Yes, it sounds rather cheesy, but that first kiss isn’t simply a kiss.
Oh no, it’s so much more.
The racing of your heart, the uncertainty of how he’ll respond and that intoxicating dizziness, which is so good it’s almost bad… is what makes that first kiss so very magical.
Even if you happened to be an expert kisser, that first kiss with someone is always somewhat simultaneously exciting and nerve-wracking. Intimacy has several aspects but like Julia Robert’s character in Pretty Woman would tell you, there’s something about the emotions a kiss evokes in you that make it the supreme act of intimacy. It’s almost sacred.
Really makes you wonder what Science has to say about the whole kissing business being oh-so-special, doesn’t it? Well, surprise surprise, I did some research! Read on to discover what changes occur in your body with your first kiss:
1. Stress Levels May Fall
Feeling a bit tightly wound these days? Rather than putting yourself through hours of mind-numbing yoga, why not opt for a steamy make-out sesh instead? According to Wendy Hill, dean of faculty and a professor of neuroscience at Lafayette College, kissing can actually reduce stress hormone levels (1).
In a study involving college students who indulged in a makeout session lasting 15 minutes, their bodies were found to show a drastic fall in cortisol levels (read: stress hormone). Hot damn.
2. Cholesterol Levels May Improve
As if you didn’t already have enough reasons for indulging in some good old kissing already, apparently it can actually help boost your health over all by especially improving your lipid levels in the blood. According to a study published in the Western Journal of Communication (2009), researchers have discovered that couples that indulged in romantic kissing were actually found to have decreased serum cholesterol levels and an increased overall sense of satisfaction (2).
So for those of you who scoff at the importance of some kissing time, well, think again.
3. Our Saliva May Help Us Assess A Potential Mate
Sorry men, but kissing isn’t simply a form of foreplay. Science says that the act is actually your body’s way of trying to decipher whether it wants to potentially make any babies with the person you’re enthusiastically smacking lips with.
Researchers from Oxford University endeavored to discover just why the practice of kissing is such a widespread act and what purpose does it serve. What they found was that the chemical composition of saliva could actually help your body gauge whether your kissing partner would breed a strong offspring (3).
Another hypothesis from Rutgers University seems to suggest that male saliva contains testosterone, which allows a woman to assess her potential mate’s strength on a molecular level (4).
4. Adrenaline Galore
The heart-racing effect that kissing has isn’t only a part of fairy tales. Oh no, it’s real alright. Kissing throws our bodies into overdrive, which causes it to surge with adrenaline (fight or flight, anybody?). The hormone produces a positive impact on your blood flow by increasing your heart rate (5). All of which helps boost energy levels while simultaneously giving you a positive vibe, aka that oh-so-fabulous kissing afterglow. Bliss!
5. Release Of Happy Chemicals
Not only does the act of kissing flood your body with the love hormone ‘oxytocin’, it also manages to unleash a cocktail of feel-good chemicals inside your brain. According to Harvard professor of psychology, Justin Lehmiller, when we happen to kiss, our brain is flooded with the ‘reward’ neurotransmitter, dopamine. This is the very same chemical released when we get pleasure like during sex or listening to particularly good music (6).
6. And Ooh, Phermones!
When you finally kiss someone that you really happen to like your body will decide to release pheromones. Well, what are pheromones you ask? Oh boy, some claim they are the stuff of legends actually, but Science says they actually do exist. Pheromones are a complex mix of natural chemicals secreted by our body that can attract other people to us (7). Remember that horrible Sandra Bullock movie Love Potion No. 9? Well, it’s somewhat like that. When you’re flushed with a burst of pheromones not only do you seem more sexy than usual, you also literally g-l-o-w. Not firefly glow, but you get my drift.
We always knew first kisses were magical, but who would have guessed all the science behind that magic, eh? I sure didn’t. Well, now you have even more reason to prolong those cute kisses!
You’re so welcome.
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