THE SIX-SECOND KISS

Want to keep that spark in your marriage? An intimacy specialist recommends a six-second kiss every day. John Gottman and his wife are the founders of the Gottman Institute, which trains couples therapists. They say six seconds is not an arbitrary number. After studying more than 3,000 couples over 30 years, the Gottmans found that six seconds of intentional intimacy is enough to trigger the release of oxytocin. It’s the same hormone that’s widely believed to be responsible for bonding a baby with its mother. The Gottmans say it builds trust in a relationship by calming down the fear center of the brain. Gottman cited previous research that suggests a 20-second hug does the same.
* So does a shot of bourbon.
* Six seconds is just long enough to realize, “Ew – coffee breath.”
* A 6-second kiss and a 20-second hug is just a couple’s way of bargaining down from a 5-minute backrub.
* Who can stand a kiss for six seconds? Oh, wait – I thought we were talking about the band KISS.
* So a husband and wife can call themselves an “institute” and get global news coverage. Is this a great country or what?