Thought proper communication, making time for each other, and if you've run out of ideas: lighting some aromatic candles and eating oysters could help improve your sex life? According to a new study, it's splitting the housework chores between you and your other half that could help make your sexual chemistry better than ever before.
Good news if you're in a relationship where you're lumbered with all the washing up - and a bit of a guilt-trip if you're the one leaving your clothes in a pile on the floor every morning (raises hand sheepishly).
A new study by the University of Alberta reported that couples enjoyed more frequent and satisfying sex when the housework was split equally between men and women. Dr Matt Johnson, a family ecology professor at the college, conducted the survey across 1,338 German couples over five years. But Johnson also revealed that the amount of housework you do has no relationship with the amount of sex you have.
“In any relationship, the amount of housework is going to mean something different based on the couple’s context,” he explained. "Based on their own expectations for what each partner should be doing, and their comparison levels of what happens with other couples they know."
According to The Independent, Johnson's study contradicts the widely reported Egalitarianism, Housework, and Sexual Frequency in Marriage study conducted in 2012 by the American Sociological Review. This study claimed that couples have less sex when men do cooking, laundry and the dishes. Johnson claims this study "didn't ring true" after his new findings.
Naturally we're going with Johnson's new finding, as an equal distribution of chores is best, right?