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7 Habits of the Happiest Couples
Whether you’ve been married for ten days or ten years, it’s never too late to start building great habits so you can be the happiest of couples!
Is there a secret to having a highly happy marriage, or relationship if you aren’t married yet? The answer has nothing to do with sweeping romantic gestures or any love potion.
No, the trick to having a healthy, happy marriage involves a series of 7 habits. Keep reading to find out how you can implement them and build a better marriage.
7 Habits of the Happiest Couples
1. Having a Regular Date Night
One of the biggest tips for a happy, lasting marriage is to spend quality time with your partner.
Quality time is about more than just being in the same room together. It’s about putting your phone away and giving each other your undivided attention.
Another great way to spend quality time together is via date night.
The benefits of a regular date night are seemingly endless. Research compiled by The National Marriage Project revealed that couples who had a date night at least once a month experienced:
- Better sex
- Improved communication
- Increased feelings of love and excitement and
- Were less likely to get divorced
What to Wear on Your Next Date Night
2. Knowing How to Apologize and Forgive
No marriage is perfect. Even the happiest couples are bound to hurt each other’s feelings on occasion, which is why it’s so important to learn how to apologize when you are wrong.
Saying you’re sorry when you’ve hurt your partner’s feelings shows humility and maturity – both of which are fantastic qualities to bring into a marriage.
Apologize when you are wrong and have empathy for how your partner is feeling.
Not only will this end your disagreement and make your spouse feel better, but it helps build a strong and supportive marriage down the road.
Equally as important as saying “I’m sorry” is learning how to forgive your spouse when they’ve hurt you.
If you want your relationship to progress to the future, you can’t keep looking in the past.
3. Maintain a Sense of Self
Spending time with your partner is fantastic, but spending time with yourself is equally as important.
To some, maintaining a sense of independence may sound like you’re on the road to divorce, but this just isn’t true.
Having a sense of independence is a great way to keep your marriage feeling new and fresh.
A great motto to live by is to “be independent, but better together.”
This means that you know who you are, believe in self-love, and pursue your goals happily. You would be fine on your own, but feel that your life is enhanced by your spouse.
When you maintain a sense of self, you:
- Give yourself time to recharge and re-center
- Connect with yourself
- Maintain important friendships
- Give you and your spouse more things to talk about
- Feel fulfilled in all aspects of your life
4. They Communicate Regularly
Ask anyone, and they will tell you that communication is the heart and soul of a happy marriage.
The Journal of Marriage and Family points to communication as one of the biggest predictors of marital satisfaction. The study goes on to say that couples who communicate are more likely to have a positive attitude with each other.
Communication helps parents to feel validated, resolve conflict without triggering each other, express their feelings, and prevent miscommunications from spiraling out of control.
5. Keeping Things Interesting In the Bedroom
Having great sex and plenty of it is key to a happy, thriving marriage.
Research shows that couples who up their sex game to at least once a week increase their happiness by the same amount as they would getting paid an additional $50,000 a year!
The oxytocin released during acts of physical intimacy is extremely beneficial for a marriage.
Not only is sex a great way to boost endorphins and lower stress, but it has also been shown to release the love hormone, oxytocin.
Oxytocin is responsible for:
- Increasing trust between partners
- Contributing to monogamy
- Heightens emotional intimacy
- Increases feelings of love and bonding
Marital satisfaction has been shown to be closely associated with sexual satisfaction, so the happier couples are in the bedroom, the more their marriage thrives!
10 Ideas to Spice Up the Bedroom
5 Tips for Creating a Bedroom That Inspires Romance
6. Have Fun Together
Marital friendship is a crucial component to a happy marriage.
Research shows that marital satisfaction is twice as high for couples who are best friends, and for a good reason.
When couples are best friends, they are more likely to:
- Communicate regularly
- Trust each other
- Laugh
- Have a happy marriage
- Communicate without speaking
- Have empathy for each other
- Show generosity and appreciation
Couples have fun together by spending quality time doing exciting things.
SAGE Journal conducted a study in which couples would engage in activities for 1.5 hours a week over ten weeks. The activities were listed as either exciting or pleasant.
Results revealed that couples who participated in the exciting activities shower higher levels of marital satisfaction than those who practiced pleasant activities together.
Why?
It is because the exciting activities made the relationship feel fresh and fun.
7. Keep the Laughter Rolling
Marriage may be serious, but the happiest couples know that laughing together is the key to a fun and flirty marriage.
Looks aside, often, it is someone’s sense of humor that attracts their partner to them.
Research published in the Personal Relationships Journal found that shared laughter was an excellent indicator of relationship well-being.
Further studies go on to reveal that couples who laugh together are more likely to stay together, as laughter promotes:
- A warmer personality
- Mood improvement
- A sense of togetherness
- Good health
- The release of helpful endorphins
There is another excellent benefit of shared laughter in marriage: it reduces stress.
Couples find that they can use laughter to unravel uncomfortable situations and reduce relationship conflicts. It can be used as a method of communication and problem-solving, and we are here for it.
Do you want a lasting, satisfying marriage with your partner? Then remember that the happiest couples are the ones who spend time together, learn how to communicate, and know how to have fun. You can build the marriage of your dreams by following these seven easy suggestions.
About the Author:
Rachael Pace is a noted writer currently associated with Marriage.com. She provides inspiration, support, and empowerment in the form of her motivational articles and essays. Rachael enjoys studying about today’s evolving forms of loving partnerships and is passionate about writing on all types of romantic connections. She believes that everyone should make room for love in their lives and encourages couples to work on overcoming their challenges together.
