“We looked at common romantic and sexual behaviours that are rarely assessed in the literature but are likely important contributors to sexual satisfaction,” said Dr. Frederick in a report published in The Journal of Sex Research.

“For example, while sexual variety is deemed important for sexual satisfaction, evidence on the effectiveness of specific forms of variety – such as showering together or wearing lingerie or use of sex toys – is lacking.”

About half of satisfied men (49%) and women (45%) reported their last sexual encounter lasted more than 30 minutes.

Most of the satisfied men and women reported feeling the same or more emotional closeness during sex now than in the first six months of their relationship (69% of men and 72% of women). Less than half of dissatisfied men and women, however, felt this way.

Dr. Janet Lever, a co-author on the study, says: “It was encouraging to learn that more than one-third of couples kept passion alive, even after a decade or two together. That won’t happen on auto pilot; these couples made a conscious effort to ward off routinization of sex.”

Image: Film stills from Crazy, Stupid, Love and By the Sea

The secret to intimacy: the surprising thing that’s likely to increase sexual satisfaction