5 Things You Need To Know About Kissing

1 minute read
Ideas
Barker is the author of Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Men and women kiss for different reasons. “Males tend to kiss as a means of gaining sexual favors, or as a means of affecting reconciliation… Females kiss more as a mate-assessment device.”

— The odds a woman will kiss her partner on their first date are 1 in 1.85, or about 54%.

— Most people naturally turn their head to the right when kissing, whether they’re left or right handed.

— Kissing is healthy. Couples instructed to kiss more “experienced improvements in perceived stress, relationship satisfaction, and total serum cholesterol.”

— Men are more likely to enjoy their first kiss than women are. In fact, women are more likely to remember their first pair of shoes than their first kiss.

This piece originally appeared on Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

Join over 150,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here.

See the 10 Healthiest Cities to Live in America

Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii Best Place for Lifelong Health The heavenly climate helps, but the key to well-being here also includes enviable health care and a rich cultural tradition of looking out for one another.Colin Anderson—Blend Images/Corbis
San Francisco, California
San Francisco Bay Area, Calif. Best Place for Eating Right. The "farm to table" movement began here. The region's bounty of produce and year-round growing season make eating healthy—and local—a natural.Getty Images
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vt. Best Place for Raising Healthy Kids This New England city offers great schools, excellent pediatric care, loads of culture and limitless options for healthy outdoor fun all year long.Matt Hogan/www.mphoganphoto.com
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley, Calif. Best Place for Workplace Wellness With treadmill desks, meetings on bikes, time off for creativity, and gobs of organic food, tech titans are reinventing how to stay healthy on the job.Jim Wilson—The New York Times/Redux
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. Best Place for Aging Well Yes, it can be cold. But with a plethora of stimulating activities and a robust web of support, the Twin Cities prove that growing old doesn't mean slowing down.Getty Images
Boulder, Colorado
Denver and Boulder, Colo. Best Place for Keeping Fit The urge to get outside and get moving is contagious in these Rocky Mountain cities, where physical challenge is built into the landscape.Celin Serbo—Aurora Photos/Corbis
Plano, Texas
Plano, Texas Best Place for Staying Safe Once a rural outpost, this booming, diverse city has kept its small-town vibe, thanks in part to a police force and community that knows how to work together.Misty Keasler—Redux for TIME
Portland, Oregon
Portland, Ore. Best Place for a Healthy Environment Small, walkable neighborhoods, 300 miles of bike paths, and urban policies that foster active living and sustainability make for one clean, green city.Getty Images
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston, Mass. Best Place for Health Care This history-rich city is home to some of the nation's most advanced medical institutions and policies that help ensure that quality care is available to all.K.C. Cohen—Courtesy of Boston Children's Hospital
Provo, Utah
Provo and Orem, Utah Best Place for Spiritual Well-Being A stunning Rocky Mountain backdrop and a tight-knit population that lives its faith contribute not only to this region's serenity but also to lower rates of disease.Getty Images

Related posts:

How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done – 5 Expert Tips

6 Things The Most Productive People Do Every Day

New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com

TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.