Kissing: How it all began and why you should kiss more

Kissing was not a universal show of affection. Before colonisation, many cultures did not kiss.

Tracking how kissing started is not an easy feat, many believed that evolution played a role. Evolutionarily, some mammals feed their young ones by mouth-to-mouth mastication. 

However, India is the place where kissing originated from. After Alexander the Great conquered India, he introduced kissing to Rome and the Romans perfected the art of kissing.

Then, there were three types of kissing.

When Christianity gained prominence through the Catholic church, they banned the ‘holy kiss’ and in its stead had the holy handshake.

In the Medieval age, people even signed documents with a kiss, and during the Renaissance, kissing became a big part of romantic stories like Romeo and Juliet and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The apparent reason is that it feels good. The lips have sensitive nerves connected to the part of the brain capable of recognising pleasure.

Kisses also happy trigger hormones like dopamine, adrenaline, serotonin and oxytocin that makes us feel good. When you kiss your pupils dilate, your heart races. You feel in love.

If you have a bad kiss with someone, there is a chance you will not feel attracted to them anymore because of how kissing is associated with love and passion.

Kissing involves the exchange of pheromones and determines sexual compatibility and if you are repulsed by each other, it is probably a bad sign.

Kissing also helps you bond more with your partner and creates intimacy. It is also an excellent way to get the foreplay started and going.