Best When You Both Work?

Could it be that when both husbands and wives have a purpose outside the home, they're more comfortable together inside the home? Or maybe the age-old adage that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" is true. For better or worse, researchers from both the University of California-Los Angeles and Utrecht University in the Netherlands found that the happiest marriages involve husbands and wives who are both stimulated by challenging jobs.

Is Your Relationship Wilting?

“A relationship flourishes in enriched soil,” says Aline P. Zoldbrod, PhD, a Boston-based certified sex therapist and a member of the faculty of the University of Michigan Sexual Health Certificate Program. But if you uproot your marriage and repot it in sand by not making time for each other or spending too much time fighting, it runs the risk of wilting away.

“Between work obligations and kid obligations, the only ‘we’ time couples have together feels more like a corporate board meeting than an intimate conversation between friends or lovers,” Zoldbrod says. “In an un-emotional climate like this, deeply satisfying sex is impossible.”

What needs to happen to resolve this marriage problem: Make time to do exciting things together. Hire babysitters, take a weekend away without the kids, or get tickets to an interesting place or event.