The Surprising Workout Hiding in Your Kisses

Think of kissing as a tiny workout for your face. While you won't be canceling your gym membership anytime soon, a passionate kiss does burn around 2-3 calories per minute and puts up to 34 facial muscles to work.

Not exactly a replacement for cardio, but hey—it's more fun than burpees.

The Muscle Party in Your Face

When you lean in for a kiss, you're orchestrating a surprisingly complex muscular symphony. The orbicularis oris—that ring of muscle around your mouth—does the heavy lifting, puckering and pressing your lips into action.

But it doesn't work alone. Your cheek muscles, jaw muscles, and even the tiny muscles around your eyes all join the party. Some researchers count as many as 34 muscles firing during an especially enthusiastic smooch.

Why the Calorie Claims Got Out of Control

You might have heard claims that kissing burns 26 calories per minute or even more. These numbers likely came from conflating passionate kissing with, well, other activities that tend to follow.

The reality is more modest but still interesting:

• A quick peck: barely registers
• A passionate kiss: 2-3 calories per minute
• An hour of making out: roughly 60-90 calories

For comparison, you'd burn about the same calories by walking slowly. But nobody writes songs about walking slowly.

Your Heart Gets Involved Too

The calorie burn isn't just about muscle movement. When you kiss someone you're attracted to, your heart rate increases, pumping more blood through your system. Adrenaline spikes. Cortisol drops.

This biochemical cocktail means your body is genuinely working harder than when you're just sitting there. Not much harder—but measurably so.

The Real Benefits Aren't Caloric

If you're kissing primarily for exercise, you're doing it wrong. The actual benefits are far more interesting than the modest calorie burn:

• Stress reduction: Kissing lowers cortisol levels
• Bonding: Releases oxytocin, the "love hormone"
• Immune boost: Exchanging bacteria (romantic, right?) may strengthen your immune system
• Pain relief: The endorphin release can actually reduce headaches

So the next time someone tells you that kissing burns 26 calories a minute, you can correct them. It's more like 2-3. But you can also tell them that the real magic of kissing has nothing to do with burning calories—and everything to do with what's happening in your brain.

Besides, if you were really counting calories while kissing, you're probably not doing it right.