Doctors give same answer to how often people should be having sex
It looks like one of the most frequently asked relationship questions has been answered - and by professionals no less.
Well, medical professionals - and they have spoken on just how many times you should be aiming to have sex in a week to maintain optimal relationship happiness.
A 2015 study published in the Society for Personality and Social Psychology looked at the frequency that people had sex, and how it linked to greater happiness.
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Lead researcher Amy Muise stated: "Although more frequent sex is associated with greater happiness, this link was no longer significant at a frequency of more than once a week."
"Our findings suggest that it's important to maintain an intimate connection with your partner, but you don't need to have sex everyday as long as you're maintaining that connection," she reveals.
This study was based on surveys from over 25,000 Americans collected over more than 20 years, and is the first to disprove the long-believed notion that more sex equals more happiness.
However, the study is specific to people in romantic relationships, with there being no link between sexual frequency and wellbeing for single people according to social psychologist and postdoctoral Muise, who is based at the University of Toronto-Mississauga.
The study in question analysed sexual frequency and happiness between 11,285 men and 14,225 women, who took the General Social Survey from 1989 to 2012.
Conducted by the University of Chicago, the biennial survey showed that frequent sex between couples correlated with happiness, but it turns out that the cut off point is at one time a week.
Couples engaging in sex more than once a week didn't show any more happiness than those being intimate just the one time, and this study, along with previous ones, showed that established couples tend to have sex once a week on average.
It also found that gender, age or length of relationship had nothing to do with results, with consistent results across all variations of these factors, according to Muise.
An online survey with 335 people proved that those in long-term relationships found similar results to the previous study, though it also asked about annual income.
It found that there was a bigger gulf in happiness between people who had sex less than once a month compared to those who had sex once a week than people who had an income of $15,000-$25,000 (£12,000-£20,000) compared to people who had an income of $50,000-$75,000 (£40,000-£60,000) per year.
Muise stated: "People often think that more money and more sex equal more happiness, but this is only true up to a point."
A third study also found the correlation to stop at having sex once a week with 2,400 married couples in the US.
Muise did state that these results don't mean that you should meet the average though, explaining: "It's important to maintain an intimate connection with your partner without putting too much pressure on engaging in sex as frequently as possible."
However, contrary to these studies, some doctors strongly follow Muise's belief of it being dependant on the couple, and nothing to do with science.
Kameelah Phillips MD, an OBGYN based in New York, shared: “Every couple is unique, and as long as they have a mutually agreed upon routine and fulfillment, then there is no external recommendation that applies.”
Natasha Bhuyan, MD, a family physician from Arizona, agrees with this, saying that personal satisfaction can change based on mood, health, and where you're at in your life.
Further highlighting that it has nothing to do with gender, the doctor said that there is a 'truly wide variation among people and their preferences'.
Couples may find that different acts of intimacy such as hugging, cuddling and kissing are just as satisfying, and though testosterone is linked to sexual libido, it varies from person to person.
Same-sex relationships may also operate differently, with these studies focused primarily on heterosexual relationships.
Joshua Nair