Kissing

Kissing is delicious, yummy, satisfying, electrifying, comforting and heartbreaking.
Its one of my favorite things to do.
However, that can get me into trouble. A story involving kissing will often end with my friend saying, "How do you get your self into these situations?"
But I digress.

So like everything wonderful and poetic that we love,
lets break it down and find out some facts about it:

* The science of kissing is called philematology.

* A one-minute kiss burns 26 calories measuring energy-producing potential of food).

* Kissing releases the same neurotransmitters (chemical messengers in the brain) as intense exercise, like parachuting or distance running. The heart beats faster and breathing becomes deep and irregular.

* Saliva, the mucus-filled slime that wets the mouth, crawls with microscopic bacteria (single-cell organisms) that enter from air, food, and dirty hands. Between 10 million and 1 billion colonies (groups of bacteria) are swapped with each smooch! But saliva also contains antibacterial chemicals that kill most bacteria before the germs are exchanged in a kiss.

* A simple pucker uses two muscles, the upper and lower orbicularis otis surrounding the lips. A passionate kiss uses all 34 facial muscles.

But WHY is kissing so amazing??
Read this article to find out.
Not only does it go through the biology of kissing, but also the history.
It also details the effects of kissing:

"While researchers aren't exactly sure how or why people started kissing, they do know that romantic kissing affects most people profoundly. The Kinsey Institute describes a person's response to kissing as a combination of three factors:

• Your psychological response depends on your mental and emotional state as well as how you feel about the person who is kissing you. Psychologically, kissing someone you want to kiss will generally encourage feelings of attachment and affection. If you're kissing someone you don't like, or you're kissed against your will, your psychological response will be completely different.

• Your body physically reacts to being kissed. Most people like to be touched, and that's part of your body's response to kissing. But kissing also affects everything from your blood to your brain. We'll look at your body's biological reactions to kissing in detail in a later section.

• The culture in which you grew up plays a big part in how you feel about kissing. In most Western societies, people are conditioned to, look forward to and enjoy kissing. The behavior of the people around you, depictions in the media and other social factors can dramatically affect how you respond to being kissed."

I really shouldn't have waited till I was 18 years old to experience kissing. But not to worry, I made up for lost time. ;)

PS. Here are two of my favorite Kiss quotes:

"“The decision to kiss for the first time is the most crucial in any love story. It changes the relationship of two people much more strongly than even the final surrender; because this kiss already has within it that surrender."

-Emil Ludwig

"“I'd give half my life for just one kiss."

Mae West: "Then kiss me twice."

And some of my favorite songs about kissing:

Steal my Kisses- Ben Harper
Knock me a Kiss
Passionate Kisses- Mary Chapin Carpenter
Kiss me-Six Pence none the Richer
Kiss, Kiss-Tarkan
Kiss-Prince
What would Happen- Meredith Brooks
A kiss to build a dream on-Louis Armstrong
Kiss the Girl-Little Mermaid