Throughout our childhood, fairy tales taught us one thing: that once you get married, you ride off into the sunset with your prince charming and live happily ever after. However, some new research has revealed that wedded bliss has an expiration date.
The New York Times reports that researchers in Europe and America decided to track 1,761 couples who got married and stayed married over the course of 15 years in an attempt to discover if there really is such a thing as “happily ever after.”
While the researchers were optimistic, the findings were pretty clear: newlyweds enjoy a massive boost of happiness within their relationship that tends to last for two years. Then, however, that joy disappears and their happiness levels start to decrease with every year that passes.
The good news is that most married couples did manage to reignite the initial spark of happiness within their relationship for a short time at various points within the 15 years.
Researchers discovered that these ‘happiness sparks’ occurred when the couples were surrounded by family and friends and when their own children eventually flew the nest.
The researchers revealed that when the couples’ own children were gone, the pair were free to rediscover one another and, in most cases, their early bliss reappeared.
Do you believe in “happily ever after” when it comes to love?
So why does our happiness decrease over time? According to various other studies, we’re programmed to become disinterested when routine is involved. So familiarity with our partner tends to make us indifference.
The author Raymond Chandler once wrote: “The first kiss is magic. The second is intimate. The third is routine.”
Do you agree with this quote or are you still as crazy about your other half as you were when you first met him?
