Kissing is good for you
Kisses strengthen the immune system and help relieve pain
Medical advice from Hospital Quiron´ Salud According to specialists from hospital Quirónsalud Torrevieja, it has widespread health benefits. It is not just a simple gesture of love, affection or respect among people, but kissing also has important benefits from the health point of view. Among other issues, it boosts our immune system and releases endorphins and hormones, such as dopamine and oxytocin, which help to relieve pain.
The experts have explained "kisses release endorphins and hormones which improves your health”
Endorphins increase our sense of well-being owing to its great pain relieving capacity and by stimulating the transmission of dopamine we may improve abilities such as memory. The wonderful experience of a kiss can leave an intense imprint. Kisses make us feel more loved and therefore more secure and bold.
Doctor Gemma Ramón, a General and Family Medicine specialist at Hospital Quirónsalud Torrevieja points out that, "besides, as we have mentioned, the list of ingredients that have been found so far in the saliva is long and continues to grow with numerous more functions such as to avoid us from getting choked with food, it is essential for the sense of taste and an indispensable source as a building element of the teeth, in fact it contains calcium and phosphate ions that occupy the spaces freed up in the crystal lattice".
Likewise, saliva contains substances that fight bacteria, viruses and fungi, and saliva exchanges that occur during kissing stimulates and strengthens the immune system to create antibodies.
Saliva is an organic fluid mostly composed of water but also of carbohydrates, electrolytes, lipids, mucin, enzymes, immunoglobulins, amino acids, etc.
"When we have a wound in the mouth, it gets cured five times faster than when it occurs in any other part of the body," notes Dr. Ramón.
How does this stimulation occur and what antibodies does it generate? What benefits does it offer?
It has pain relieving, bactericide, coagulant and cellular regeneration acceleration effects, it acts chemically at a cellular level and reactively at the C.N.S. (Central Nervous System) level.
Even in terms of its chemical analysis, saliva contains certain properties that are of immune type, in addition to antimicrobial proteins and antifungal properties. It is considered a healing agent.
Also, kisses have an important psychological component, as it "binds us with our equals, unites us with our family and makes us feel intimately close with our partner". In this sense, kisses also help children to grow up healthy and confident: "During adolescence a certain rejection towards this displays of affection may appear, but we must not allow ourselves to be deceived by this gesture, we still need love and affection in adequate doses of hugs and kisses".
Risks to be avoided
Experts have warned that good oral hygiene is required to prevent the development or transmission of infections through saliva, besides avoiding contact with people who suffer from any disease that is transmitted through saliva. In this sense, there are a dozen pathologies that may be transmitted through kissing, ranging from the most common with lesser impact (colds, cold sores, warts or cavities) to others that require more complex treatments and affect the health more seriously, such as mononucleosis, also known as the kissing disease.