The YouGov study - a collaboration with Marriage Care and Relationships Scotland, to be published in full in September – found that, out of 6,000 UK adults only 45% said they were “fairly satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their sex life, while 51% said they had not had sex in the past month.

Relate found that couples wanted to bring the spontaneity back, but say sex is rarely truly spontaneous and instead recommends that couples plan sex and intimacy, and do not shy away from or from kissing and cuddling in front of their children.

Psychosexual therapist and Relate Institute lecturer Cate Campbell says the focus should not always be on full intercourse. Instead, she says, couples should focus on what is going well rather than dwelling on problems can help.

“What constitutes a satisfying sex life can vary wildly from one person to the next, so working out what makes you tick is a great starting point. People may feel concerned if they haven’t had sex in the past month but there are plenty of other ways to be sexy that don’t involve full intercourse.”

Can't get no satisfication: fewer than half of us are happy with our sex lives, new research says