International Kissing Day: 13 fun facts about kissing

1. The science of kissing is called philematology.

2. The most important muscle used while kissing is the orbicularis oris. Depending on the kiss, you can use up to 34 facial muscles – a French kiss, for instance.

3. Kissing passionately for 1 minute burns around 26 calories. So make sure you engage in a bit of lip-lock if you’ve had that extra bar of chocolate.

4. Your lips are said to be at least a hundred times more sensitive than your fingertips. It’s even more sensitive than your genitals! Go figure.

5. According to studies, around two-thirds of people tip their head to the right while kissing. It’s said that the preference actually develops in the womb.

The longest habanero pepper kiss is 1 min 41 sec. (Source: Thinkstock Images)

6. It’s said around 50 per cent of the people around the world have their first kiss before the age of 14.

7. The longest kissing chain was achieved by 351 participants at an event organized by Jiayuan.com in Beijing, China, on 11 November 2011.

8. It’s said the longest kiss record is held by Ekkachai and Laksana Tiranarat for 58 hours, 35 minutes, and 58 seconds on February 12-14, 2013. They actually broke their own previous record at a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not event in Pattaya, Thailand.

9. The longest underwater kiss in apnea lasted 3 min 24 sec 34 frames and was achieved by Michele Fucarino and Elisa Lazzarini (both Italy) on the set of Lo Show dei Record in Rome, Italy, on March 18, 2010. The record was part of the Italian TV show Lo Show dei Record.

10. The longest time to kiss a car is 76 hours and was achieved by Ernesta Hernandez Ambrosio and Jesús Juárez Vite (both Mexico) at La Feria de San Francisco in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico, from October 10–14, 2013.

11. Apparently, Vedic Sanskrit text dating back to 1,500 BC has a written reference to kissing.

12. The text KamaSutra is said to list around 30 different types of kissing.

13. The first on-screen kiss was shot in 1896 in a 30-second movie called The May Irwin-John C. Rice Kiss, which only consisted of a shot showing a man and a woman kissing.