The study found how often people should be aiming to get between the sheets
A study has revealed what your sexual habits could mean for your relationship.Scientists carried out the study, titled 'The Satisfaction of Women’s Orgasms: The Relationship Between Women’s Orgasmic Pleasure and Sexual Relationship Satisfaction in Aotearoa/New Zealand', and published their findings in the International Journal of Sexual Health in September 2024.
Looking at its results, you should be looking to have sex at least once a week, with there being a direct correlation with happiness, according to participants in the study.
Alexandra Janssen, a researcher at the University of Manchester, is the author behind the recent study.
The study found that women who were getting intimate more often, were happier (Getty Stock Image)
It was found that 85 percent of women who had sex every week were 'sexually satisfied', said the survey, which accumulated the results from almost 500 heterosexual women.
However, of wives and girlfriends who did the dirty just once a month, only 66 percent were as happy.
While it's not a huge drop-off, it's noticeable enough to take some notes.
If we go on to women who had sex less than once a month, the satisfaction level dropped to a low 17 percent.
Moving onto other findings, it was noted that women who ranked sex as 'very important' had better love lives than those that didn't.
Getting intimate once a week should be the goal (Getty Stock Image)
Women over the age of 45 were also the least likely to report happiness when it came to intimacy in their relationships, while satisfaction was higher with women who reported more regular orgasms - until a certain point - and placed an importance on sex in life.
Coincidence? Probably not.
Janssen noted that this pattern could also possibly be because those in more fulfilling relationships tend to have more frequent sex - not that just doing it more often will simply increase happiness.
“Therapeutic interventions therefore need to focus on exploring any underlying dynamics and barriers to intimacy, rather than just encouraging people to increase frequency,” she said.
Interestingly, the study also found that - despite popular beliefs - achieving an orgasm every single time isn't actually necessary for women as participants who orgasmed almost always or always didn't necessarily report even higher satisfaction.
Janssen explained: “Our research highlights that the widespread cultural focus on orgasm as the pinnacle of sex, which can create unnecessary pressure and distress when orgasm doesn't occur, is reductive.
“Our findings offer a powerful message - it's normal and okay if orgasm doesn't happen every time, and might even be a good thing.”
483 women from New Zealand were surveyed for the 2024 study, with all of them being in a committed relationship in the past year or so.
When it came to limitations, authors acknowledged that there was no way to verify if the answers were real, given that it was a survey. In addition, diversity wasn't a strong point of the study, limiting the findings.
In the UK, it is said via YouGov that six in 10 Brits get between the sheets less than once a week, while just one in 10 say to have sex weekly, and just 15 percent say that they are intimate more often.
According to all the scientific findings then, it seems that more is better!
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
