Why a hot kiss makes you feel dizzy?
"Ummmms" and "aaahhhs" are not the only
co-partners of kissing, for a passionate lip-lock unleashes a chain of chemical
changes that really turn your head, claims a new study.
Wendy Hill, professor of psychology at Lafayette College, Pennsylvania has
taken the opportunity to shed light on that most basic of all human expressions
of love — the smooch. In her study, Hill has found that a meeting of lips can
spark a complex chemical surge into the brain that makes a lover feel excited,
happy or relaxed.
Also, it is being speculated that the hormone release may be triggered directly
by an exchange of sexually stimulating pheromones in the saliva.
"This study shows kissing is much more complex and causes hormonal changes
and things we never thought occurred," the Times quoted her, as saying.
"We tend to think more about who we are kissing and how it feels, yet
there are a lot of other things happening," she added.
To reach the conclusion, the research team looked at the impact of kissing on
levels of two hormones, oxytocin and cortisol, in 15 male-female couples before
and after holding hands and before and after kissing.
Oxytocin is known to be involved in social bonding so the researchers predicted
that its levels would rise, while cortisol, a stress hormone, would fall. The
results showed cortisol levels fell in both sexes, although oxytocin levels
rose in men but fell in women.
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