A kiss is one of the most vivid ways of expressing human emotions. Most men and women enjoy kissing. This activity gives pleasant sensations, excites, and brings lovers closer. A gentle and passionate kiss can instantly relieve melancholy and apathy, energize, and cheer you up. And that’s not the half of it! We have prepared the most interesting facts about kissing that will definitely surprise you.
1. On average, a person spends 336 hours (or 2 weeks) kissing in the course of a lifetime.
2. Human lips are as much as 200 times more sensitive than fingertips.
3. Kissing is a great facial workout that can help you to keep youth. When kissing, about 30 of the 57 facial muscles work. Other times, they work only during chewing or talking. Such muscle activity improves blood circulation and skin elasticity, as well as helps smooth wrinkles.
4. In addition, kissing actively burns calories. A simple kiss on the cheek takes 5 calories, and with a passionate minute of a French kiss, 26 calories are lost.
5. Kissing can relieve stress. It has been scientifically proven that kisses inhibit the formation of glucocorticoid hormones, which cause anxiety, increase blood pressure, and negatively affect sleep. To feel better, it is enough to kiss three times a day for at least 20 seconds. Don’t believe it? Meet single ladies and check it out!
6. According to statistics, about 66% of people kiss with their eyes closed. At the same time, 65% of kissing people tilt their heads to the right. Scientists have found that the habit of tilting the head to a certain side is formed in a person during intrauterine development.
7. The longest kiss in the history of cinema lasted 185 seconds and was shown in the movie “You’re in the Army Now” (1941).
8. The world record for the longest kiss was set in 2015 by a security guard and a housewife from Thailand. The couple took part in a marathon and kissed for 58 hours 35 minutes and 58 seconds. Under the terms of the competition, the participants were not allowed to break away from each other under any circumstances. They even had to eat through a straw. The winners received $3000 and two diamond rings as a prize.
9. Sociological polls have shown that men who kiss their wives every day before going to work have a higher income than those who don’t.
10. In some countries, kissing in public is considered extremely indecent and sometimes even illegal. Public kissing is frowned upon in Japan, China, and Korea. There is even a term “Japanese kiss” – partners stand at a distance of one step from each other, lean forward, and touch each other’s lips just for a second.
11. In 1979, David Bowie invented the “lipograph” machine, which took a print of the lips for person’s identification. After that, they held an auction of “lipograms” of famous people from America. All the proceeds, amounting to $16,000, were donated to the Children’s Protection Fund. At this auction, Mick Jagger’s lip print alone was sold for $1,600. Unfortunately, the “lipograph” never came into use in forensic science.
12. Of all the animals, the chimpanzee’s kiss is the most human-like. Dogs, horses, and Canadian porcupines kiss on the lips too.
13. In some places, kissing is considered a crime. In the American state of Indiana, there is still a law according to which “a man with a mustache is prohibited from kissing a human being.” In Connecticut, it is illegal for a man to kiss his wife on Sundays. And in Cedar Rаріds, in Iowa, the sheriff can arrest anyone who kisses a stranger.