Heart to Heart

Tips for Thriving in your Marriage

“The Kinsey Institute recently conducted an international survey of more than 1,000 middle-age couples who had, on average, been together 25 years…One “striking” finding, to borrow the report’s own word, was a very strong connection between a man’s relationship satisfaction and his frequency of physical intimacy.  Not physical intimacy as in sex, but physical intimacy as in kissing, cuddling, and general, not necessarily sexual, caressing.  The odds of a man being happy in his relationship increased by a factor of three if he snuggled up regularly.”

- Eric Jaffe, from “What Men Want”, Mar/April 2012 Psychology Today
 

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Are men happier because they are more intimate, or are they more intimate because they are happier?  We may not know…but experimenting to find out if more touching and cuddling in your relationship can make you both happier sure sounds like fun!

Bolstered by no less an expert than the Kinsey Institute, why not take the next month to look for excuses to cuddle and touch?  Here are some basic ideas:

    •    Even if you have different biological clocks, set some “sacred time” around the bedtime of the earlier-to-bed partner. Use that time to cuddle, hold each other, or just read a book side by side (while touching, of course), and don’t forget to read a few funny passages to your partner!
    •    Go for walks and hold hands
    •    Sneak up behind your partner and kiss her on the neck
    •    Stroke your partner’s hair
    •    Cuddle under a blanket while watching a "feel good" movie
    •    Ask for a booth, and sit side-by-side the next time you go out for dinner
    •    Anything that sounds fun…and gives you an excuse to touch your partner or cuddle

© 2012 Melissa Orlov