To better understand how to kiss, it is helpful to understand why people kiss in the first place.
People kiss to express feelings of intimacy and longing, as well as to expand or intensify the excitement they may feel. “Kissing stimulates the pleasurable areas of the brain, causing it to produce a mixture of hormones that make you feel awesome,” explains clinical psychologist Judy Rosenberg, PhD. “These molecules include oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin, which are pleasurable and promote a feeling of affection and bond.”
According to Texas-based clinical psychologist Anna Ortiz-Lugo, PsyD., HSP, kissing has countless benefits, from helping to reduce stress levels to potentially supporting your immune system. And in relationships, kissing plays an important role in that it can help relieve tension and promote intimacy. It is often an important part of a couple’s sex life and a way to show intimacy outside the bedroom. Although relationships can often last a long time without sex, without the intimacy between two people being lost, Rosenberg says that kissing is essential to keep the spark alive.
Interestingly, although we may think of kissing as something inherent in being human, it is actually culturally specific and observed in almost half of the world’s societies.