• British Scientists Discover Why Men Who Are Too Generous May Put Women Off

  British scientists have once again tackled one of life’s most pressing questions: what exactly gets in the way of building a successful relationship? This time, they turned their attention to men who are especially generous with charitable donations...

• “Mercy Sex”: Shocking Study Reveals Why Women Have Sex With Men Even When They Don’t Want To

  Women who feel little or no sexual desire may still have sex two or three times a month — in some cases, to preserve their relationships and prevent their partners from leaving, researchers have found. Sometimes intimacy has little to do with passion...

• The Secret to Strong Love Lies in the Bedroom: Scientists Prove the Link Between Sexual Confidence and Happiness

  A recent online study conducted in Italy has shown that sexually assertive and confident individuals tend to experience greater satisfaction in their romantic relationships. At the same time, sexual self-esteem was found to be closely linked to both body appreciation and sexual assertiveness. The scientific paper was published in the journal Behavioral Sciences....

• Canadian woman trades humans for AI boyfriend: Sex with a bot is better than with any real man

  41-year-old Sarah Griffin from Canada has found love in artificial intelligence. According to her, the romance started unexpectedly: the woman used ChatGPT to discuss books she read and look for literary recommendations, but soon noticed the bot had a "personality" and became charmed by it, writes the Daily Star...

• 3.5 Times a Week: Scientists Calculate the Ideal "Sex Quota" for Couples in Love

  It seems logical: the deeper the love, the more frequent the sex. However, science reveals that in reality, things work quite differently...

• Steam-Powered Orgasms: How Victorian Doctors Treated Female "Hysteria" to Save Their Hands From Fatigue

  The Victorian era was every bit as puritanical and repressed as its reputation suggests; selling anything explicitly sexual was entirely taboo. By the mid-1800s, peddling pornographic literature could land you straight behind bars. And yet, just a couple of decades later in 1869 (a rather fitting year), the world's very first sex toy officially entered production...

• TikTok vs. Marriage: How the Trend of Hating Men Leaves Women Out in the Cold

  Viral TikTok trends and feminist literature are teaching women to view men as the enemy. Yet research shows the opposite: the war of the sexes leaves independent singles on the sidelines of happiness...

• "The Things You Do for Love": Benny Blanco Crosses the Atlantic by Ship to Reunite with Selena Gomez

  Music producer Benny Blanco has embarked on a transatlantic voyage by ship to reunite with his wife, Selena Gomez, opting for the unusual journey because of his long-standing fear of flying...

While pop culture and friends may have told you that maintaining the "spark" is important to maintaining a long-term romantic relationship, expert Emily Nagoski says that thinking is wrong, Axios writes.

Nagoski, the best-selling author of books on female sexuality and burnout, has released Come Together, an evidence-based work on intimacy in long-term marriages and partnerships. She was inspired to write the book after experiencing a sexual lull with her husband that is familiar to many couples.

In our stressful lives, it's normal to take breaks from sex.

Research and data on couples who have long-term sexual relationships show that success has a lot to do with friendship and prioritizing pleasure—over spontaneous desire.

Some of Nagoski's sexual myth-busting tips are as follows:

Don't worry about the "spark" and being "in the mood" all the time, she says. Focusing too much on this can actually make you less open to intimacy.

Don't be afraid to talk about sex with your partner. This doesn't mean anything is wrong.

“Couples in long-term sexual relationships talk about sex all the time, just like you talk about any hobby. [That’s] what makes it good,” she says. And note that the "lull" period is not dysfunction or a sign that your relationship is lacking love, the expert assures, but it may be a sign that it's time to evaluate what aspects of your life are weighing on what she calls sexual pressure "brakes."

Be open to planning intimacy.

"It's a misconception that planning sex means you don't want it enough," Nagoski says. “Our life is difficult. My calendar is full. If I hadn't put sex on the calendar, it wouldn't have happened because it requires consciously protecting space, time and energy.”

Stop worrying about what other people are doing.

Nagoski does not answer the question, “How much sex does the average couple have?”—because “it’s impossible to hear a number and not judge yourself by it.”  "What matters is whether you enjoy the sex you're having."  Instead of focusing on frequency, it's better to focus on the context of when sex is desirable for you and your partner—there's a good chance you may need different ways to achieve the lustful mood.

So in a long-term sexual relationship, it's important that you trust each other, decide that sex is important, and prioritize the needs of your unique relationship.

Follow NEWS.am STYLE on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram