 According to new research, happiness peaks when couples have sex once a week but does not increase with greater frequency – and quality matters 
 
 Sex matters to couples until it doesn’t, according to new research that finds happiness peaks when couples have sex once a week but does not increase with greater frequency. “Having sex more frequently than once a week was not associated with greater well-being.” 
 
 The good news for players is that more sex wasn’t associated with lower well-being either, but having sex less than once a week was definitely associated with a drop-off in contentment.  More sex may not always make you happier, according to new research published by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology 
 
 More sex may not always make you happier, according to new research published by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. “Other work – on non-sexual topics – has shown that sometimes seemingly positive things do not uniformly increase well-being – for example, socializing with friends.” 
 
 In one study the researchers analyzed survey responses from 1989 to 2012 about sexual frequency and happiness, from more than 25,000 Americans in all. Despite common stereotypes that men want more sex and older people have less sex, there was no difference in the findings based on gender, age or length of relationship. In addition, these findings were specific to people in romantic relationships and in fact, there was no association between sexual frequency and wellbeing for single people, said Muise, a social psychologist and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto-Mississauga. It's possible that for single people, the link between sex and happiness is dependent on a number of factors such as the relationship context in which the sex occurs and how comfortable people are with sex outside of relationship. “Looking at when and for whom having more frequent sex when single is beneficial is another area ripe for future research.” 
 
 The researchers could not make any concrete claims about the reasons why sex more than once a week does not make couples happier than only once. There wasn't a strong link between sexual frequency and overall life satisfaction, but couples reported more satisfaction with their relationships as sexual frequency increased up to once per week, with no noticeable benefits of engaging in sex more often. These participants were also asked about their annual income, and there was a larger difference in happiness between people who had sex less than once a month compared to people who had sex once a week than between people who had an income of $15,000-$25,000 compared to people who had an income of $50,000-$75,000 per year. In fact, the study found that the difference in life satisfaction between couples who had sex less than once a month and those who had it once a week was bigger than the difference between couples who were quite poor, making between $15,000 to $25,000 annually, and those who were much wealthier, making between $50,000 and $75,000. “People often think that more money and more sex equal more happiness, but this is only true up to a point,” Muise said. "Our findings suggest that it's important to maintain an intimate connection with your partner, but you don't need to have sex everyday as long as you're maintaining that connection."
– Couples who constantly "Netflix and chill" aren't necessarily happier. In fact, having sex once a week is just about perfect. That's the takeaway from a new study, based on surveys of more than 30,000 Americans gathered over 40 years, published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. After previous research found more wealth wasn't actually associated with greater happiness, lead author Amy Muise began to wonder if the same was true for sex, "an aspect of life that is thought to be associated with greater happiness," she says, per Time. However, researchers found that while couples who have sex once a week are happier than those who have sex less often, "having sex more frequently than once a week was not associated with greater well-being." The findings held regardless of gender, age, or the length of a relationship. The study found couples who had sex less than once a month and those who knocked boots once a week reported a difference in life satisfaction that was even greater than that reported by couples who earn $15,000 to $25,000 annually and those who earn $50,000 to $75,000, according to a release. Muise isn't sure why having sex once a week seems to be ideal, but it may "be the frequency that people feel is enough to maintain their intimate connection," she says. The "big problem" one researcher not involved found with the study is that it identifies correlation, not causation. "People are basically having as much sex as they want, and for some reason ... [those who do it] about once a week seem to be happier," George Loewenstein tells the Guardian (see his sex research here). As for single people, Muise says researchers found no link between sexual frequency and happiness among that group. (It turns out men and women want sex at different times of the day.)