The Surprising Ways That Having Sex Can Save Your Relationship

The key to sexual satisfaction

The thing about sex, especially for women, is that getting busy doesn’t always mean getting satisfaction. And satisfaction isn’t always about having an orgasm, either. Therefore, one of the things this study set out to do was answer the age-old question: how often should women be getting busy with their partner to feel sexually satisfied?

The answer, surprisingly enough, is just once a week. The survey of hundreds of women found that 85% of those doing the horizontal mambo once per week report feeling sexually satisfied. Meanwhile, only 66% of those getting frisky once per month experienced sexual satisfaction. And of the women having sex even less than once per month, only 17% of them report feeling sexually satisfied.

How important are orgasms to sexual happiness?

Like we said before, sexual satisfaction isn’t always connected to having an orgasm. However, most women still chase the “big O” whenever possible and prefer partners who know how to make it happen. With that in mind, just how important are regular orgasms to a woman’s overall feeling of sexual satisfaction?

Alexandra Janssen, who conducted this study, revealed the answer to MailOnline. The study found that even though women are more likely to stay with a partner who can make them orgasm, a regular climax isn’t the most important component to feeling sexually satisfied. According to Janssen’s research, those who had an orgasm during every sexual encounter reported less satisfaction than others who orgasmed less frequently.

These results actually pleased Janssen, who praised the study for “[contradicting the belief that women are most satisfied when they have an orgasm at every sexual encounter.” She’s hopeful that these findings will “[take] the pressure off women who might struggle to achieve orgasm 100% of the time.”

The chicken and the egg of your sex life

No matter how good it is, every study has its limitations. For example, Alexandra Janssen’s study made great strides in figuring out how many women are sexually satisfied under certain conditions. However, the study failed to properly explain the correlation between the amount of sexual pleasure and the quality of sexual satisfaction.

In her interview with MailOnline, Janssen elaborated on this matter. “We don’t know whether women are happier because they are having more sex, if they are having more sex because they are happier, or if they are happier and having more sex because of other factors-perhaps they don’t have kids,” she said. And some of what can be deduced from the study is pretty obvious: “Also, the fact that women who have less sex are also less satisfied in their relationship isn’t particularly surprising,” Janssen said.

Sex can fight off depression (no, really)

One broad conclusion of this study is that couples are generally happier when they have sex more often. But aside from making you feel good, what is it about sex that makes you feel like a happier person? Simple: sex is a natural antidepressant. And if you are a woman who has sex at least once a week, you will be 24% less likely to develop signs of depression than women who have sex only once per month.

Sex makes you feel happier because it leads to the release of endorphins and dopamine, your body’s biggest feel-good chemicals. These chemicals can affect your body in awesome ways, including relieving your pain and making you feel less stressed out. All of this adds up, revealing sex to be one of the easiest (and certainly most pleasurable) ways to improve your quality of life.

On top of everything else, having sex just once a week can potentially save your relationship. When you and your partner hook up, both of you will receive the same rush of feel-good chemicals. This can help to emotionally bond both of you together, even as it makes each person feel more relaxed. Translation? If you’re worried about the relationship, try to make more time for physical affection. Just once a week can help prevent arguments while fostering the kind of intimacy it will take to maintain a long-term relationship.