While watching movies, I realise that characters in films always close their eyes while kissing. I kept asking why does it happen so? [at this time, I didn’t have the experience of ever kissing before]
I thought it would be different with me. So I told myself that if I ever have the chance to kiss, I would try my best never to close my eyes.
That very afternoon, I did all I could to never close my eyes but I just couldn’t do it.
The very moment my lips came into contact with hers, my eyes shut. I tried opening my eyes while kissing but after few seconds, it will shut again.
It was at this point that I started researching on why people close their eyes while kissing and this was what I have learnt so far:
Below are some useful 5 reasons why people close their eyes while kissing according to elcrema.com;
1. THE BRAIN JUST CANNOT MULTI TASK AT CERTAIN THINGS
The human brain is a mega computer and has the ability to do quite a lot of things, but sometimes, there are things it just cannot do smoothly — moving both the tongue and the eyeballs is one of such things.
Kissing obviously involves swirling the tongue in the other person’s mouth, and the brain is sort of programmed not to do that and control the movement of the eyeballs at a time. Try it when you kiss again, and see how unusual it would seem.
2. WHEN YOU KISS WITH THE EYES OPEN, IT TAKES THE ROMANCE AWAY FROM THE MOMENT
Kissing is meant to be a very romantic exercise where both parties are lost in the moment, but that can only happen if both of them shut their eyes while at it.
It would be so weird and empty for one to kiss with their eyeballs staring at each other.
3. IT’S UNHEALTHY FOR THE EYES TO NOT DO SO
The eyes are not designed to look at objects from such a close range (distance), staring at your partner’s eyes while you kiss them can expose your eye sight to danger.
4. IT ALLOWS SOME MEN LAST LONGER IN BED
There are men who claim to last longer and enjoy sex more when they take their minds off the moment and think about something else.
For men like these, closing the eyes may be the only way to achieve their goal.
5. IT’S THE ONLY WAY SOME PEOPLE CAN EVER KISS…
Sometimes, some of us find ourselves in a situation where we have to kiss someone not-so-attractive.
If you have ever been in a situation like this, then you know the only way you can actually kiss them without making your dissatisfaction so obvious is simply by shutting yours eyes as you do it.
I further discovered that Psychologist actually made a similar research on why people close their eyes while kissing as pressed on msn.com:
According to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, you likely close your eyes instinctively during a kiss, as the research shows that performing a challenging visual task could reduce your ability to comprehend stimuli associated with the other senses—in this case, touch.
In general, humans aren’t that adept at using all of their senses simultaneously. (This explains, for example, why you might not notice your phone vibrating in your pocket while searching for a friend in a large crowd at a loud concert.)
Basically, the brain appreciates the touch of your partner’s lips even more when your eyes are closed, since it has fewer outside stimuli to focus on.
So, when you close your eyes to prepare for a kiss, you only do so in the name of feeling the kiss, which your brain subconsciously decided was more important than seeing the kiss.
It’s why you close your eyes during other pleasurable moments, like when you’re really feeling a particularly moving song or a Michelin-worthy meal (“mmm, that’s amazing!“).
And, while this one is only a theory, some scientists believe that the closed-eyes kiss may have begun centuries ago, when locking lips was less a romantic move and more a mandatory mating ritual for purely reproductive purposes.
Closing eyes was an evolutionary trick to ensure no outside stimuli could distract from the reproductive process.
Finally, there’s one other reason why we close our eyes in the throes of passion—and it boils down to trust.
By closing your eyes, you’re letting your partner know that you’re able to let go and fully enjoy the moment with them.
So, unless your brain has mastered the monk-like art of detecting and interpreting multiple sensory stimuli at the same time (highly unlikely), you’ll be keeping your eyes closed for every romantic kiss.
And for some romantic inspiration, here are 30 Most Iconic Kisses of All Time.
