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What's So Great About Kissing?

What's So Great About Kissing?

A serious, tongue-tangling kiss triggers a whole spectrum of physiological processes that can boost your immunity and generally spruce up that body you work so hard to keep attractive.

By Jeanie Lerche Davis

Face it -- a great kiss makes the world dissolve, makes us dizzy with desire.

"Kissing is passion and romance and what keeps people together," says Michael Cane, author of The Art of Kissing, who "lectures" on kissing at colleges around the country.

"Women say they can tell if a relationship is going to work after the first kiss, after the first night of kissing," he says. "They just get a feeling, an intuition."

And while kissing may feel oh-so-good, it also has health benefits, too. It triggers a whole spectrum of physiological processes that boost your immunity and generally spruce up that body you work so hard to keep attractive.

Kiss Me, You Fool

Among the benefits of a good wet one: That extra saliva washes bacteria off your teeth, which can help break down oral plaque, says Mathew Messina, DDS, a private practice dentist in Fairview Park, Ohio, and consumer advisor for the American Dental Association. "Still, I would not go around advocating kissing after meals instead of brushing," he says.

A serious, tongue-tangling French kiss exercises all the underlying muscles of the face -- which some say could keep you looking younger, and certainly looking happier.

Kissing might even help you lose weight, says Bryant Stamford, PhD, professor and director of the health promotion center at the University of Louisville. "During a really, really passionate kiss, you might burn two calories a minute -- double your metabolic rate," he says. (This compares to 11.2 calories per minute you burn jogging on a treadmill.)

When you give sugar, you actually burn sugar. Sex sparks a good calorie burn, Stamford says, especially "if you're passionately involved, thrashing around. If things were really hot and heavy, you might be looking at a caloric expenditure similar to a brisk walk."

But don't confuse great sex with a cardiovascular workout, he says.

"People tend to have the misconception that anything that raises your heart rate has the same effect as jogging, so it must be good for fitness. Not true," he says. "Anything can get your heart racing ... that's just adrenaline."

Tension relief -- that's what good lovin' brings, says Stamford. "Sex and love are probably the Rodney Dangerfield of stress management. Because of all the negative energy we take in during the day, it's a very positive benefit."

All in all, kissing and everything it engenders keeps us going strong, living long, says Stamford. "The process of being active -- and that can include kissing, sex, and any other whole-body activities -- that's what keeps you healthy."

Sex, sensuality, and sensual touch have profound effects on well-being, says Joy Davidson, PhD, psychologist and clinical sexologist in Seattle, and former columnist for an online column called "Underwire."

"Kissing is an exciting excursion into the sensual," Davidson tells WebMD. "If we happen to be connecting with someone we care about, it produces a sense of well-being and a kind of full-bodied pleasure."

Kissing is also "a sensual meditation," she says. "It stops the buzz in your mind, it quells anxiety, and it heightens the experience of being present in the moment. It actually produces a lot of the physiological changes that meditation produces."

And while kissing may be nature's way of "opening the door to the sexual experience," she says, "it also has all that lusciousness that we need to pull us out of the mundane and the ordinary and take us into moments of the extraordinary."

Birds, Bees, and More

Birds do it -- tap their bills together, that is.

"We don't know if bees do it," says Helen Fisher, PhD, professor of anthropology at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J., and author of several books, including The Sex Contract and Anatomy of Love. Romantic love is her research specialty.

"All kinds of animals kiss," says Fisher. "Insects will stroke each other with a leg, or stroke another's abdomen. Even turtles, moles, and cats rub noses. Dogs lick each other's faces. Elephants put their trunks in another elephant's mouth."

When chimpanzees kiss, "it's with a deep French kiss," she says. "They do it for all kinds of reasons -- there's social kissing, kissing to relieve tension, to express friendship, to make up after an argument. Two males will kiss, two females will kiss, a mother and child will kiss on the lips. They don't choose mates; it's whomever they're interacting with."

Kissing is a very investigatory process, Fisher explains.

"By the time you're kissing someone, you're right up next to them, you are in their personal space," she says. "That in itself means you have trusted them. You're also learning quite a bit about them -- you touch them, smell them, taste them, see the expressions on their face, learn something about their health status, learn a great deal about their intentions."

The brain contains "a huge amount of receptors devoted to picking sensations from the lips," Fisher says. "When people have been stabbed in the back, they often don't know it. They think someone has pounded them with their fist, because there aren't many receptor sites for nerve endings."

Why? All these sensors aid our survival. They direct a baby toward milk; they helped our ancestors -- for millions of years -- to discern whether their food was poisonous or not. "The mouth is absolutely essential to survival -- everything passes through there, and if it's the wrong thing, you're cooked," she says.

"The receptors on the lips are incredible," she tells WebMD. "I've heard hookers say they would rather copulate with somebody than kiss them because the intensity of kissing somebody is so meaningful. There's tremendous intimacy. ... Even the genitals do not have the sensitivity that the lips have."

http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/features/kissing-benefits?page=3

The Bonding Power of Locking Lips

For man and animals, kissing is a bonding behavior, she says. "There are all kinds of social reasons that humans and animals kiss, and they don't all have to do with sex. Most cultures in the world do kiss sexually. [But some] peoples in South America, some in the Himalaya Mountains, do not kiss. They find it revolting to exchange saliva."

Kissing also engenders touch, often called "the mother of the senses, because of its power," says Fisher. "We know that massaging someone produces increased levels of oxytocin, which is a calming hormone. So there's every reason to think kissing is extremely calming, if you know the person well, or extremely stimulating if you are in love with somebody."

Studies of rodents -- voles, specifically -- have shown that oxytocin makes a mother vole become attached to its offspring, says Larry Young, PhD, professor of psychiatry in the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at Emory University Medical School in Atlanta.

Whether a guy vole sticks around "afterward" seems to be driven by oxytocin, Young tells WebMD.

Prairie voles are the only vole species that mate for life; their genetic makeup drives them to produce satisfying amounts of oxytocin. On the other hand, mountain voles are loners and breed promiscuously; they produce virtually no oxytocin.

In humans, this translates into the bonding benefits of kissing, foreplay, every bit of touching you do.

Here's a tip: "One of most powerful releases of oxytocin is stimulation of the nipples," Young tells WebMD. It's the same biological mechanism that triggers milk flow during nursing. Sucking triggers oxytocin release, and thus the bond is created.

Humans, interestingly enough, are the only species that includes nipple stimulation in lovemaking, he adds.

Romance, Love -- or Lust?

That rush that sweeps through your body, during those particularly great kisses? Fisher knows it well.

"Kissing is contextual," she says. "A kiss can be wildly sexual, wildly romantic, or it can be deeply gratifying because it's an affirmation of attachment. Kissing somebody for the first time, rather than the 200th or 2,000th time, creates a situation of incredible novelty."

That rush you feel is probably from two natural stimulants -- dopamine and norepinephrine, Fisher says. "They tend to be activated when you get into a novel situation."

Fisher says there are three different stages one typically goes through:

• lust -- the craving for sexual gratification
• romantic love -- the feeling of giddiness, euphoria, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite when you meet a new love
• attachment -- that sense of security you find with a with long-term partner.

"Each of these is associated with different chemical systems in the brain," says Fisher. Sex drive and lust are triggered by testosterone, in both men and women. Dopamine and norepinephrine kick in when romance begins. Oxytocin is a factor in at the attachment phase, bringing the sense of calm and peace you find with "the one."

If you're in the midst of a "mad love affair, it's quite possible you simply feel levels of dopamine, that zing of romantic infatuation," Fisher tells WebMD. "If all you're doing is having a sexual fling with someone you like very well -- but are not in love with and don't feel attached to -- then all you may feel is sex drive, the effects of testosterone."

Unless you're kissing the wrong person, kissing quite likely is good for us, says Fisher.

"I've often thought it would boost the immune system," she says. "If you're sharing your germs with somebody, you're adding to your internal defense system."

Kissing also stimulates the brain, and when the experience is a positive one, "you notice it," she says. "That translates into the euphoria, or the sex drive, or the sense of calm and peace.

"Kissing helps your state of mind," she adds. "Infatuation can be perfectly divine. If you're madly in love with somebody, it's perfectly wonderful to kiss them. It creates incredible intimacy. It boosts self-esteem. It's wonderful to be kissed by somebody."

Simple, five minute saliva test to determine baby's risk for more than 100 life-threatening genetic diseases

Simple, five minute saliva test to determine baby's risk for more than 100 life-threatening genetic diseases

Published on January 22, 2010

Genetic diseases like those seen in the new Harrison Ford movie "Extraordinary Measures" can now be prevented with a simple saliva test which is free with insurance for more than 100 million Americans. The movie centers on the real-life efforts of the Crowleys, a family trying to find a cure for a rare genetic disease affecting two of the family’s three children.

The condition wasn’t detected until after their children were born. Now, couples can take a Universal Genetic Test before pregnancy to determine whether their baby is at risk for more than 100 life-threatening genetic diseases. At-risk couples may then use a well-understood procedure called IVF/PGD to protect their child from genetic disease and ensure a healthy pregnancy. This Universal Genetic Test was invented by scientists and social entrepreneurs from Stanford and Harvard and brought to the public via a Stanford startup named Counsyl (counsyl.com).

As Newsweek recently reported: “What is the secret to improving public health while cutting costs? The question has consumed Washington, but it's being answered elsewhere, by doctors offering a new test for more than 100 rare recessive genes, some of which cause fatal diseases. The test, [offered by] Counsyl, lets potential parents assess their genomes to see if their future kids are at risk. ... This is as preventive as medicine gets: the test could eliminate all single-recessive-gene diseases.”

The test is now offered by physicians at more than 100 prestigious medical centers across the United States, including Yale Fertility Center (see counsyl.com/map), and has attracted the support of prominent academics, bioethicists, religious leaders, families with genetic disease, and doctors from America’s largest hospitals. Broad Support among Prominent Physicians for Universal Genetic Testing Dr. Steven Ory, Past President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine: "

After 30 years in reproductive medicine, I am more optimistic about this development in genetic disease prevention than I've ever been before. The vast majority of babies born with genetic disease have no family history. That's why it's so critically important for all parents to get the Universal Genetic Test before pregnancy." Dr. Pasquale Patrizio, Director of the Yale Fertility Center: "Every adult of reproductive age needs the Counsyl test. It is unusual in that it benefits all three parts of the health care triad: patients, doctors, and insurers.

A child stricken by preventable genetic disease often dies in infancy and costs the bereaved parents millions in medical bills. A five minute saliva test that prevents this is a money saver, a time saver, and most importantly a life saver; it really is a no-brainer."

Dr. Thomas Walsh, Director of the Male Fertility Laboratory at the University of Washington: "Genetic testing has been recommended for all adults before pregnancy since 2001, but like many topics related to planning a pregnancy, awareness of this issue continues to lag. This test covers several key genetic diseases, including cystic fibrosis, spinal muscular atrophy, sickle cell, Tay-Sachs, and many others. The results of testing enable couples to make an informed decision before conceiving a child.”

Dr. John Marshall, Former Chairman of Ob/Gyn at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center: "Because the test can be taken in the privacy of one's home as well as in a clinical setting, it reminds me of the first 'at home pregnancy test'. This 'at home carrier test' is very similar in that the healthy adults who take it generally test negative, with those who test positive referred for medical followup. It thus completely reshapes the debate over so-called direct-to-consumer or 'DTC' testing. Offering this test over the web as well as in a clinical setting is simply a moral imperative, as it is the only way to get needed care to people in rural areas who may be far away from large hospitals."

Dr. Michael Levy, Clinical Professor of Ob/Gyn at Georgetown & Director of IVF at Shady Grove Fertility, America's largest IVF center: "Parents who know their carrier status before pregnancy can take preventive measures to have a healthy child. Because new techniques like PGD are used before pregnancy, they avoid the ethical dilemma of termination that was previously a roadblock to wider adoption of carrier testing." The New Standard of Care at the Nation's Largest Fertility Centers Dr. Angeline Beltsos, Medical Director of the Fertility Centers of Illinois: "Every doctor and patient wants to avoid a high-risk pregnancy. Yet many people don't know that single gene disorders now account for more than 10% of infant deaths. The Universal Genetic Test is the next ultrasound: a non-invasive early warning system for couples to know if their baby is at risk."

Dr. Arthur Wisot, Medical Director of Reproductive Partners Medical Group in Los Angeles: "The Counsyl test is appropriate for everyone trying to conceive because it is the first test that makes it both practical and economical to screen for so many genetic diseases. Couples can now protect their baby from developing any one of over a hundred debilitating and lethal genetic diseases with just a saliva sample. This test is the future of genetic screening."

Dr. Ian Hardy, Medical Director of Fertility Centers of New England: "We have been offering the Counsyl test to our incoming patients as part of their standard evaluation with exceptional results. It is an easy-to-use saliva test which is covered by most insurance plans and allows couples to be screened for both common genetic diseases (like CF, SMA, PKU, and beta thalassemia) as well as dozens of rare conditions."

Dr. Kaylen Silverberg, Medical Director of Texas Fertility: "The Counsyl test replaces a battery of more expensive blood tests. It provides a couple and their physician with much more information for a fraction of the cost. Counsyl testing represents a quantum leap forward in pre-pregnancy planning for couples — especially those concerned about having a child with a genetic disease — as it is safe, affordable, and easy to use."

Dr. Michael Soules, Medical Director of Seattle Reproductive Medicine: "The new Counsyl test is the simplest and most cost-effective way to do genetic screening as it checks for over 100 significant disorders with a single saliva sample. Enlightened insurance carriers are paying for this test as it saves them the major future expenses of covering a chronically sick child." An Advance for Women, Minorities, and Families with Genetic Disease Professor Henry Louis Gates of Harvard University: "As the first genetic test for all ethnic groups, the Counsyl test represents a genuine breakthrough for minority health. With one test for diverse communities, African Americans and Hispanics can benefit from a new technology that actually reduces health care disparities."

Elena Ashkinadze, Program Supervisor in Genetics, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School: "Because Counsyl's test simultaneously covers diseases from many ethnic groups at a considerably lower cost than standard blood tests, it promises to make carrier testing affordable for previously underserved patient populations, including African Americans and Hispanics. The current practice is mostly to screen once a woman gets pregnant. With Counsyl's test, we can change the emphasis to pre-pregnancy screening when more options, including preimplantation genetic diagnosis, are available. Ideally, women should understand that having carrier testing before pregnancy is as important as refraining from alcohol during pregnancy."

 David Brenner, Director of the Dysautonomia Foundation: "As a parent of a child with a genetic disease, I wouldn't want another child to suffer from what my son has endured. Nothing is more important than safeguarding the health of our children, and this test is such a simple and powerful way to prevent terrible suffering." Rabbi David Wolpe of the Sinai Temple in Los Angeles: "Several years ago, a mother whose son was born with Tay-Sachs said to me sadly ‘The Rabbi made sure to tell us not to play Wagner's march at our wedding, but said nothing about being genetically tested.’ Ensuring that Jewish couples — and others — are offered genetic testing is a critical task."

Professor Steven Pinker of Harvard University: "Universal genetic testing can drastically reduce the incidence of genetic diseases, and may very well eliminate many of them." Last year, Professor Pinker took the test with his wife, the novelist Rebecca Goldstein. To raise awareness of preventable genetic disease, they are now publicly announcing for the first time that both of them tested positive as carriers for familial dysautonomia. While they themselves are healthy, their children would have been at risk for this life-threatening genetic disease — underscoring that the value of genetic testing is far from hypothetical.

SOURCE Counsyl

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100122/Simple-five-minute-saliva-test-to-determine-babys-risk-for-more-than-100-life-threatening-genetic-diseases.aspx