Couples who have sex once a week are happiest, a study has found.
Scientists at a Canadian university also discovered sex made more difference to couples’ happiness than their income.
Researchers at the University of Toronto-Mississauga spent 14 years collecting data from 2,400 married couples for the study.
Having sex once a week made couples happier than doing so less frequently – but more frequent sex than that made no difference.
Lead researcher Dr Amy Muise said: “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 it’s important to maintain an intimate connection with your partner, but you don’t need to have sex every day as long as you’re maintaining that connection.”
But the study, published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, did not establish whether sex made couples happier, or whether it was being in a happy relationship that led to more sex.
There was no link between happiness and frequency of sex for single people, Dr Muise added.
“Our findings were consistent for men and women, younger and older people, and couples who had been married for a few years or decades,” she said.
During a separate study the researchers also found people’s happiness levels are more affected by how much sex they have than by how much they earn.
Dr Muise and her team asked 335 people in long-term relationships about their sex lives, income and happiness levels to reach their conclusions.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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