Boosting your sex life may not result in more happiness

If you think more sex will make you more happy in life, you are wrong, claims a new study.

In their first study to examine the causal connection between sexual frequency and happiness, Carnegie Mellon University researchers experimentally assigned some couples to have more sex than others, and observed both group's happiness quotient over a three-month period.

About 128 healthy individuals between the ages of 35-65, who were in married male-female couples, took part, where, while the first group received no instructions on sexual frequency, the second group was asked to double the frequency of their weekly sexual intercourse.

They reported that simply having more sex did not make couples happier, in part because, the increased frequency led to a decline in the desire for and enjoyment of sex.

The study's lead investigator, George Loewenstein, said it was possible that couples changed the story they told themselves about why they were having sex from an activity voluntarily engaged in, to one that was part of a research study.

One of the study's designers, Tamar Krishnamurti, suggested that the findings may actually help couples to improve their sex lives and their happiness quotient, by focusing on increasing sexual frequency to the levels they experienced at the beginning of a relationship. Krishnamurti further said that couples may want to work on creating an environment that sparks off their desires and engage in sex with even more fun.

The paper is published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.