• 10,000 Men in 24 Hours: OnlyFans Star Lily Phillips Turns to AI in Bid to Break Her Own Record

  Lily Phillips is setting her sights on a staggering 10,000 men, but this time she will not have to be personally involved in every encounter...

• Vanessa Trump Makes Future Plans with Tiger Woods After Beating Cancer

  Vanessa Trump and Tiger Woods are looking to move forward in their relationship after a difficult year in which the former daughter-in-law of US President Donald Trump battled breast cancer while the golfer faced the aftermath of a car accident...

• “Porn Isn’t the Problem”: Adult Film Star Identifies the Main Cause of Gen Z’s Sexual Recession

  Generation Z is increasingly facing a paradox: young people want intimacy, yet real-life sexual relationships are becoming less common...

• Men Reveal the Part of a Woman’s Body That Drives Them Wild

  Men have admitted that they find women’s necks particularly attractive — a sensitive area that is often overlooked. According to sexologists, its appeal lies not only in touches and kisses, but also in the sense of intimacy, vulnerability and trust between partners...

• It’s Not Just About Looks: Sexologist Explains Why Younger Men Are Attracted to Older Women

  As women get older, they often become more confident in their sexuality, gain a better understanding of their own desires and become less concerned with other people’s opinions. According to an expert, these qualities can be particularly appealing to younger men, although relationships with a significant age gap also come with their own challenges...

• Five Mistakes That Can Quietly Destroy a Marriage

  The secret to a happy, lasting marriage lies not only in compatibility but also in the ability to maintain emotional intimacy. A study published in the journal Family Process found that better communication and greater emotional security are associated with higher relationship satisfaction...

• ‘The Bathroom Is Their Secret Weapon’: Divorce Expert Claims Men Use Long Toilet Breaks to Escape Family Life

  A divorce expert has stirred up the never-ending “battle of the sexes” by claiming that men have supposedly turned trips to the bathroom into a kind of escape route from family responsibilities...

• 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...

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