Of all the things I’ve read recently, this news takes the cake. The Australian, BBC News and various other publications recently posted an article about a Chinese woman whose boyfriend ruptured her eardrum after a very passionate kiss. Dr Li, who one can only assume was taking care of the poor girl at the time, was quoted in China Daily saying, "The kiss reduced pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out and caused the breakdown of the ear." I have to admit, my stomach turned when I read that quote. I then considered the force the would be required to suck out your ear drum from the inside; either she has weak eardrums or I’ve found a prototype for the world’s strongest vacuum cleaner.
According to doctors, the girl from Guangdong will have a hearing impairment for about two months. The China Daily then blessed us with this advice: "While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution." I’ll take that on-board.
Who knew the every-day act of kissing (here’s how it works) could inflict physical harm on your body? This bizarre report then sent me on the hunt for more kissing tidbits. After hours spent trawling the Internet, here are some gems I stumbled across:
- A typical French kiss moves 29 muscles in the face
- Your lips are 100 times more sensitive than the tips of your fingers
- One small kiss burns up to 3 calories
- Men who kiss their wives every morning before going to work live 5 years longer than men who don’t
Flickr photo republished under a Creative Commons license.
