Study finds couples have more sex if they do one thing together

The secret to happiness is having more sex, according to science.

So what's the secret to having more sex then? Well it might not be the aftershave you wear or the size of your wallet (although we're sure they might help). Where couples are concerned a study has found one thing that seems to lead to more sex. It's doing the housework. Couples that did a more equal share of the household chores got laid more. A study found that on average partners who divided the hoovering, washing and ironing had sex 6.8 times a month. This was in comparison to couples where one partner did the majority of the jobs who had sex just five times a month, on average. The study came from data from marriage satisfaction study conducted across America and appeared at the Council on Contemporary Families.

By 2006, couples who reported sharing housework fairly equally, with the man doing more than a third and up to 65 percent of the housework, reported having sex significantly more often than did couples where the woman (or the man) did 65 percent or more of the housework. In fact, contemporary couples who adhere to this more egalitarian division of labor are the only couples who have experienced an increase in sexual frequency compared to their counterparts of the past, whereas other groups – including those where the woman does the bulk of the housework – have experienced declines in sexual frequency. This finding is particularly notable given reports indicating that sexual frequency has generally declined worldwide over the past few decades.

So why is this the case? The study's authors basically think that couples report having more and better quality sex when they're satisfied with their relationships. When are couples most satisfied with their relationships? When they seem equitable and fair, according to the study.

In today’s social climate, relationship quality and stability are generally highest when couples divide up the household labor in a way they see as equitable or fair. And the evidence shows that when men do a greater share of housework, women’s perceptions of relationship fairness and satisfaction are greater. In fact, how housework was arranged mattered more for couples surveyed in 2006 than it did among those interviewed in the late 1980s. It is therefore not surprising that couples with more egalitarian divisions of routine housework report being more satisfied with sexual intimacy today than they did 20 years ago. Sharing housework is now perceived as a sexual turn-on.

No you didn't read that last bit wrong. 'Sharing housework is now perceived as a sexual turn-on'. So crack out the hoover, get your marigolds on and get scrubbing because you're more likely to get lucky. The study also found it was the same case with couples who shared childcare more equally. This article originally appeared on JOE.co.uk