Making out is a part of almost everyone's life. From first awkward kisses in high school, or maybe middle school for you early starters, to comfortable kisses with a long term partner, it is always fun and exciting when done correctly. But did you know that making out has huge impacts on your body and relationship besides just being fun? Here we will go into what making out does for you and your partner, and why you should maybe be doing it more.
Making out with someone is a unique experience between you and your partner at the moment, but you might be surprised to find out that almost every make out begins the same way. Yup, over 80% of people tilt their head to the right when going in for a kiss.
We all know how sensitive our fingers are, they are what most of us use to get a feel, literally, for the world around us, so you may be surprised to know that lips are actually 200x more sensitive than fingertips. This explains why making out is such a electric activity!
Not only is making out with someone enjoyable, it actually is a little bit of a workout! Kissing someone uses 24 facial muscles, not to mention 100 other muscles in the body if you really get into it! Over a half hour an intense make out session might actually burn up to 100 calories, what a great way to workout.
So far everything about a make out session sounds great, but there is actually a downside, depending on how you feel about bacteria. During an intense make out sesh your saliva production bumps up and is teeming with up to 1 million bacteria. On the upside 95% of those million are totally harmless.
When you are really into your partner or really into the kissing, your body actually has a physical response in many ways. The first of these ways is by sending increased blood flow to all of the sensitive areas of your body; nipples, genitals, fluttery stomach.
Your Adrenal Glands are what control adrenaline levels in your body, and when you are aroused they are stimulated! This leads to a pounding heart, heavy breathing, sweaty palms, etc. This is a similar response to what your body does when you are in a high stress situation.
Dopamine is known as the pleasure neurotransmitter, because when dopamine is released it sends a signal of enjoyment to the rest of your body. And it comes as no surprise that this is released when you are having a good make out with someone, and the brain shuts down other negative emotions at the same time.
All of the chemical reactions that happen inside of you while making out are happening in your partner at the same time. The most significant over the long term is when oxytocin is released in the two of you. Oxytocin is known as a bonding hormone and sharing this will lead to you two becoming closer over time.
Any kind of kiss can actually give you a huge mood boost as well. This can help to reduce any tension or stress, as well as to give you a happiness boost. Studies have shown that couples who kiss more are more likely to stay together in the long term and be happier with the state of their relationship.
Clearly there are a lot of physical impacts of a good make out, but that's not all! There are tons of emotional ones as well. The first of which is that you feel more secure in your relationship. This is because a kiss every here and there is a good way for people to be reminded that their partner cares for them.
This is the obvious emotional response, when you are making out with someone you are much more likely to want to have sex. If you feel like you and your partner's sex life has been lacking then you might want to try kissing more often and seeing if that can help to pick things back up to what you want.
There are heaps of positive benefits of making out with someone, but are there actually downsides of not making out? Yes, there are! The first of which is that you start to lose your sex drive. When sex is not on the mind the longer you go without it the less you think about it over time.
Without the releases of dopamine and other pleasure chemicals in the brain your stress levels are likely to go through the roof. This comes with a whole slew of other problems including, on the physical side, higher blood pressure and, on the emotional side, a shorter temper and general dissatisfaction.
As we learned earlier making out with someone actually exposes you to a ton of bacteria, but this actually is a good thing. Low exposure to bacteria helps your immune system stay strong and prepared, and when you cut out that source, you are more likely to have something bring your immune system down.
If you ask us, it sounds like we all should be making out a lot more! There are tons of benefits to both your mental and physical state that this simple activity can quickly bring into your life, not the least to mention that it is fun! Next time you feel the urge to give someone an extra kiss, do it!
