Science finds the secret of a hot kiss
A meeting of lips can spark a chain of chemical changes that really turn your head
Jonathan Leake
IF you always thought you had a special chemistry with your loved one, you may finally have been proved right.

Researchers have found that a passionate kiss unleashes a complex chemical surge into the brain which makes a lover feel excited, happy or relaxed.

There is also speculation that this 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,” said Wendy Hill, professor of psychology at Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, in an interview. One puzzle is just how kissing might induce hormonal changes of the kind found by Hill. There are clearly psychological factors involved but some researchers suspect saliva contains pheromones, chemical messengers known to be important in other mammals.
In humans the role of pheromones is controversial because we lack organs to detect them. However, Sarah Woodley, an assistant professor at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, who will speak at the same meeting, believes that people can still detect them via the nose.

Anyway, good kissing: gently exploratory, passionate and forceful at times, not too delicate or fluttery, sucking pulse points, cupping of face or neck is good, as are direction changes.