Kissing is an intimate act of affection that often involves closing one’s eyes. But why exactly do people close their eyes when they kiss? There are several possible reasons.
It helps focus on the physical sensations
Closing your eyes when kissing someone allows you to focus entirely on the physical sensations you are experiencing. Sight is the dominant sense for most people, so removing visual stimuli enhances your ability to focus on touch, smell and taste during an intimate moment. You can concentrate on the feeling of your lips touching your partner’s, the sensations of your body pressing against theirs, their scent, the sounds they make, etc. Having your eyes closed helps intensify the passion and pleasure of kissing.
It signals and enhances intimacy
Closing your eyes during a kiss is a nonverbal cue that signals and enhances the intimacy of the moment. When your eyes are closed, it indicates that you are shutting out the outside world and focused entirely on your intimate partner. This helps create a feeling of emotional closeness and bonding. The vulnerability of having your eyes shut fosters a shared sense of trust and affection between you and your kissing partner. Kissing with closed eyes telegraphs a willingness to be immersed fully in the intimate experience.
It’s easier and more comfortable
On a practical level, it is simply easier and more comfortable to kiss with your eyes closed. Trying to keep your eyes open means you have to awkwardly stare at your partner from an extremely close proximity. This can feel uncomfortable and break the intimacy of the moment. With closed eyes, you avoid the need to refocus at such a short distance and can relax into the kiss more easily. Your partner is likely to have their eyes closed too, so closing yours helps synchronize the act. Closed eyes prevent accidentally bumping noses as you lean in and enable you to move your head naturally without visual guidance.
It allows you to fantasize and focus imagination
With eyes closed, people are able to fantasize and focus their imagination on their partner and the moment. Visualizing romantic scenarios or past intimate experiences helps some people get into the right mood for passionate kissing. They can use their mind’s eye to envision their partner in romanticized ways. Or they may imagine dream scenarios and idealized pleasure. Closing your eyes provides an inward canvas on which to project arousing mental images that enhance real physical sensations.
It prevents visual distractions from hampering attraction
Eyes closed may help prevent visual distractions from negatively impacting feelings of attraction during intimate moments. When eyes are open, you may notice imperfections or awkward expressions that undermine your partner’s beauty and desirability in your mind’s eye. With your eyes closed, you avoid any visual elements that might hamper your mental image of their attractiveness and desirability.
It’s instinctual and habitual
For some people, kissing with eyes closed simply feels instinctively normal and natural. We may be biologically wired to close our eyes during intimacy. Studies show oxytocin, a hormone involved in social bonding, suppresses certain visual areas of the brain. This mechanism could support shutting out visual input to enhance primary senses. Our eyes also produce fewer signals when closed. Many people also report starting to close their eyes during intimacy at a young age and continuing the habit into adulthood without a conscious rationale.
Conclusion
Kissing with closed eyes appears to serve several overlapping functions: enhancing the physical sensations, signaling intimacy and trust, creating comfort and focus, enabling imagination and fantasy, avoiding visual distractions, and fulfilling instinctual or habitual behaviors. The next time you kiss your special someone, pay attention to the effects of opening and closing your eyes, and you may discover even more personal reasons this intimate act feels better when the eyes are shut off to the outside world.