Top 10 Reasons Kissing is Good For You

With Valentine’s Day coming up, there is no escaping all the allusions to romance: flowers, candy, jewelry, and lots of kissing.

Kissing isn’t just romantic-it’s good for your health!

Here are 10 benefits to smooching it up for the holidays-and all year long!

1. Kissing boosts your “happy harmones” by igniting the brain’s pleasure center and chemicals- oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin.
2. Kissing is a stress reliever, helping to lower cortisol levels.
3. Kissing lowers your blood pressure: it’s good for your heart, literally!
4. Kissing relieves cramps AND headaches.
5. Kissing boosts your immune system–unlike that icky kiss Tess had with an infected individual on “The Last of Us”-swapping spit makes you healthier sharing microbiota germs.
6. Kissing improves your cholesterol, lowering your risk of heart disease and stroke.
7. Kissing helps reduce cavities by increasing saliva. Saliva production is important, as I learned this weekend when I was diagnosed with a medical problem. Had I been smooching more often, I would have had more saliva–certainly more fun than sucking on lemon drops!
8. Kissing improves your facial muscles. Think of it–it’s a workout for your face! No need for downloading a face slimming app!
9. Kissing helps your self esteem by reducing cortisol levels. Researchers in a 2016 study found that participants bummed with their physical appearance had higher cortisol levels.
10. This is most important–kissing burns calories, so you can lose weight! Hooray–you can eat more chocolate out of your heart shaped box!

In conclusion–if you want a healthy Valentine’s Day–pucker up!