Hey: If You Love Your Partner, Why Aren't You Kissing More?
Kissing IS WAY more important in your relationship than you think it is, folks. Unless things are really bad between the two of you, more affection and kissing is a good way to increase intimacy, happiness, loving feelings, and life enhancing hormones. The brilliant anthropologist Helen Fisher, Ph.D. says that romantic love has three components, romance, attachment, and sexual arousal. Remarkably, kissing is the magic ingredient. It activates all three of these components.
A Scientific American magazine article notes that each kiss triggers a cascade of brain signals and chemicals that transmit tactile sensations, euphoric feelings, and feelings of closeness. If you look at a diagram of the human body called the Homunculus, which shows which parts of the body are the most endowed with nerve endings, you’ll see that the face and the lips are larger than most other parts of the body, except for the genitals and the hands.
The lips are full of sensory neurons. When we kiss, these neurons shoot messages to the brain and the body, carrying both sensations and intense emotions that trigger further physical reactions. Unbelievably, almost half of the cranial nerves are sparked, sending a cocktail of brain chemicals that control your level of stress (GABA), motivation (dopamine), bonding (acetylcholine) and stimulation (serotonin).
If things have cooled in your relationship, I would not advise just jumping in and pouncing on your partner and locking lips. I might say something like, “hey, I’ve been reading about kissing, and I’ve been thinking I miss kissing you, and I would like to do it more. What do you think?” If your partner says yes, I promise you, your relationship will get a very wonderful boost.
