Why Kissing Your Wife Goodbye Might Add Years to Your Life

There's a piece of relationship advice that's been floating around since the 1980s, and it sounds almost too good to be true: just kiss your wife before leaving for work each morning, and you could live five years longer, earn up to 35% more money, and dramatically reduce your chances of getting into a car accident.

Too good to be true? Maybe. But the story behind this claim is fascinating regardless.

The Famous German Study

The study is attributed to Dr. Arthur Szabo, allegedly a psychology professor at the University of Kiel in Germany. According to the widely-circulated claims, Szabo spent two years collecting data from physicians, psychologists, and German insurance companies during the 1980s.

His purported findings were remarkable:

• Longevity: Men who kissed their wives each morning lived an average of five years longer
• Income: The kissing husbands earned 20-35% more money
• Health: They used significantly less sick time
• Safety: Not kissing goodbye supposedly increased car accident risk by 50%

A survey of 110 top German industrial managers reportedly found that 87% who regularly kissed their wives goodbye held better positions and saw pay increases.

The Problem With the Research

Here's where things get murky. The study was never published in a peer-reviewed journal—it allegedly appeared in a West German magazine called Selecta. No questionnaires, methodologies, or participant demographics have ever surfaced. And independent verification of Dr. Szabo's credentials at the University of Kiel remains elusive.

Critics have pointed out the obvious gaps: How exactly do you measure whether someone kissed their spouse? The data would have to be self-reported. How do you control for all the other factors that might make someone both more affectionate and more successful?

The claims have the hallmarks of what researchers call "too neat" findings—the kind of clean, quotable statistics that spread because they're satisfying, not because they're rigorous.

What's Actually True

Here's the twist: even if the specific study is questionable, the underlying principle isn't crazy.

Psychologists who've analyzed these claims don't dismiss them entirely. They point out that the kiss itself probably isn't the magic ingredient—it's what it represents. A husband who takes time to kiss his wife each morning likely starts his day with a positive attitude. That emotional harmony shows up physiologically and mentally throughout the day.

Modern research on relationships and health actually supports this broader idea:

• Strong social connections are consistently linked to longevity
• Physical affection reduces cortisol (the stress hormone)
• Happy marriages correlate with better cardiovascular health
• Starting the day with positive interactions improves mood and decision-making

The Takeaway

The specific German study may be more legend than science. We can't verify that it happened the way it's described, and the extraordinary claims deserve extraordinary evidence that doesn't exist.

But the core message resonates for a reason. Couples who maintain physical affection, who don't let the morning rush erode their connection, who choose small moments of intimacy over efficiency—they probably are happier. And happier people tend to be healthier people.

Is a morning kiss a magic longevity pill? Almost certainly not. Is it a symptom of the kind of relationship that actually does add years to your life? That's much harder to argue with.

So maybe the real lesson isn't about kissing at all. It's about not letting the daily grind grind away at what matters most.