There is a running joke that as soon as you are married you stop having sex, at least you don’t have it anywhere near as frequently as you did when you were dating. Now while that may be true in some cases, many married couples continue to enjoy a highly active and fulfilling sex life with each other. If anything, they would argue that sex gets better as they become older and more in tune with their bodies.
According to a study that was published in the University of Chicago Press, married couples are having sex seven times per month which means the average number of times per week married couple make love is a little less than twice. That figure changes depending on the lifestyle and age of the couple, who may have children in the family home (therefore having less adult time) or could have demanding careers which may leave them with little time with each other, as well as making them tired.
How Often Do Married Couples Have Sex vs Young Couples
While married couples are having sex seven times a month, another study reports that cohabiting unmarried couples are getting intimate between “eight to 12 times per month”, which does indeed suggest that you have less sex after marriage, but it isn’t quite so clear-cut. For one, unmarried couples are less likely to have children and therefore have more time to get down and dirty. When there isn’t a child running around the house, you are free to do it in the middle of the day if you want, while couples with children do not have that luxury. Sex cannot happen until children are tucked up in bed asleep at night, or on a rare occasion that they are with a babysitter. How often do couples with kids have sex is dependent on the age of the children (whether they are living at home or old enough to have moved out) and the couple themselves, with people generally having less sex as they grow older.
It is also natural for couples to have sex more often in the early stages of a relationship, otherwise known as the ‘honeymoon period’. Sex with someone new is exciting and couples in the infancy of their romance naturally have a higher sex drive. Endorphins, hormones and chemicals in the brain run much higher and erratically in the first few months of a relationship, which in this period is when many couples see their partner as being absolutely perfect without any flaws. Being with your other half can be likened to a legal high, with a feeling of euphoria encapsulating the body. By the time a couple reaches the stage of marriage, those effects have long since worn off between a husband and wife, which is not to say that they love each other any less at all. How much sex is normal is relative to your situation and your sex drive - there is no right or wrong answer that suits everyone.
