A new study has found an average figure for how often a “happy couple” should be having sex and the number is lower than you might think.

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The study, which was conducted by the University of Chicago, looked at 30,000 couples across America to reach a conclusion. Apparently just once a week is enough to keep most couples satisfied.

This might seem pretty crap, but when you consider work and social commitments as well as general fatigue, this number averaged out doesn’t seem too out of touch with reality. Amy Muise, the lead researcher on the study, said:

Although more frequent sex is associated with greater happiness, this link was no longer significant at a frequency of more than once a week.

Our findings suggest that it’s important to maintain an intimate connection with your partner, but you don’t need to have sex every day as long as you’re maintaining that connection.

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In case you think that the study wasn’t comprehensive enough and the findings don’t apply to regular couples, the General Social Survey was carried out between 1989 and 2012 and the findings were consistent over all age groups, genders, income and length of relationships.

The study also dispelled some myths over gender, as it found that men overall did not want more or less sex than women and older people were also just as sexually active as younger couples.

If you still feel that this figure doesn’t represent you and you are having more than the ‘once a week’ rule then just be happy with the knowledge that you’re above average when it comes to shagging – and that can’t be a bad thing.

For the biggest mistakes people make during sex, click HERE.