Research Intercourse in partnership Much makes couples happier?

Examined: How often should couples "make love" so that they are happy?

Although many people say that sex is the foundation of a love relationship. If the intercourse fails, people become sad, unhappy and frustrated. But when people regularly go about their pleasures, they are more relaxed, happier, and happier overall. But how much is really enough to have a happy relationship? Social psychologist Amy Muise and her team have evaluated several studies for a meta-analysis that surveyed more than 30,000 women and men in the US. The results were amazing.

More frequent intercourse can not increase satisfaction 
How often do happy couples have sex? Every day, weekly or once a month? This question was asked by scientists from the University of Toronto Mississauga in Canada and carried out a large-scale study to answer. The result: Frequent sexual intercourse does not always lead to more satisfaction - instead, the happiest couples have sex about once a week.

Physical closeness helps with stress and inner restlessness
Sex is healthy and makes you happy - several studies have already come to this conclusion. Because the body spills out during sexual intercourse, the happiness hormone endorphin, which ensures satisfaction and also acts against stress and inner restlessness. Can one conclude that couples who have a lot of sex are happier as well? Or rather the simple rule "less is more"? This question was also raised by the scientist Amy Muise and her colleagues from the University of Toronto Mississauga in Canada. Muise assumed that the increase in happiness only up to a certain sex frequency is possible.

Less than once a week reduces satisfaction
To test this thesis, the scientists evaluated surveys of a total of more than 30,500 US-Americans. It turned out that having more sex in a relationship also means more happiness - but not without limitation. Satisfaction was particularly high among those who slept together about once a week. Those who had intercourse several times a week could not increase their happiness accordingly, the scientists report in the journal "Social Psychological and Personality Science".

Despite widespread stereotypes that men want more sex and older people have less sex, according to Muise, the results did not reveal any differences in gender, age or duration of relationship. "Our findings were consistent for men and women, younger and older people, and for couples who were married for just a few years or decades," the psychologist said in a statement by the Society of Personality and Social Psychology. However, this applies only to people in fixed relationships. For singles, however, the connection between frequent sex and increased happiness could not be proven.

Researchers use data from three separate individual studies
Amy Muise and her colleagues used three different individual studies for their study. In a first step they evaluated the data of the "General Social Survey", for which more than 25,000 participants had answered questions about the relationship between contentment and sexual life.

In the next section of the study, the researchers asked 335 people living in a committed partnership to complete an online questionnaire on the subject, with additional data on their monthly income. In the third part, the psychologists used data from the National Survey of Families and Households. Among other things, this provides information on how satisfied American couples are with their partnership and their lives and how often they have sex.

Low sex frequency makes you more dissatisfied than a low income 
The scientists came to further interesting results, e.g. realized that less frequent sex led to more dissatisfaction than low income. "People often think that more money and more sex equals more happiness, but that's only up to a point," Muise said.

Couples should talk to each other about their sexual satisfaction
In addition, the individual studies confirmed again the thesis that happiness can only be increased up to a certain sex frequency. According to the researchers, this could also be the reason why most couples say that they sleep together about once a week.

"Maybe that's the average, because more frequent sex is not associated with greater well-being." But the reverse theory is also conceivable: "Maybe couples feel satisfied, as long as they think that they have sex as often as the average of couples in her age. "

The results of the study, however, would not necessarily mean that couples should now have more or less sex to reach the weekly average, the researcher continues. But they should talk about whether their sexual needs are met. "It's important for a close relationship with your partner that you have sex with each other as often as you can without too much pressure," she said. (No)