In the study, mindfulness was boiled down to three of its main components – non-reactivity (accepting our thoughts and feelings without trying to ignore or react on them), acting with awareness (when we act intentionally and purposefully rather than letting our impulses take over) and non-judgment (letting go of the automatic judgements we make without thinking).

The couples were also asked to answer questions about their stress levels, perceived relationship quality and sexual satisfaction.

What they found was interesting. First of all, both acting with awareness and nonjudgement weren’t found to improve relationship satisfaction (although the former was associated with women’s sexual satisfaction). And, as we might expect, stress levels were negatively correlated with relationship quality.

Most interestingly, however, there was a positive correlation between non-reactivity and relationship quality – meaning that when couples were able to accept and move on from their thoughts and feelings without letting them influence their interactions with their partner, their relationship benefitted.

This clever mindfulness trick could be the key to a happier relationship