Sexuality and Well-Being - Couples

I went to the York Circle lecture and Lunch series 22 Sep 19 and chose to sit in when Dr Amy Muise, Assistant Professsor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health at York University was talking about her research. Her research is based on how romantic relationships and sexuality influences overall health and well being. She teaches courses on the psychology of intimate relationships. Now, Dr Muise’s research is based on correlation research. You can look up my previous notes to understand how that works. Her participants usually have an income of 50,000 or more. She found that having more sex did not necessarily increase well being. There is a need to belong and a need for novelty. Self expanding activities promote relationship satisfaction among long-term couples. Novelty, change and unpredictability are associated with higher sexual desire in relationships. Three studies were discussed: -1. expansion in daily life. 2 - 1st baby. 3 - ways to enhance self expression. Self-expansion in daily life. 118 couples - 32 years old, living together 5 years. People found expanding - taking a trip together; learning something new; class together - dance. “She taught me how to make a cherry pie. …….. Study - higher levels of self-expression = higher sexual expansion. There was a 34% increase of engaging in sex. Also both people were happier as a result. There was no carry on to the next day. After a 21 day study - 3 months later. I attended another lecture regarding climate change which is very interesting to me since it involves our lives. I will re-read my notes and determine if it may be of interest to you. This month I am attending two seminars, one regarding children and grief. The other will be about aging and health. I am looking forward to both. There are some web seminars regarding couple therapy but I have to think about those because I prefer to attend, since I enjoy the interaction with others. I also want to ensure that if I have to sit in front of a computer that it is not a refresher something or other. I need to learn new, not variations of old. So, I will share more notes next week. I was once asked by an old professor of mine what seems to be the most problem in couple therapy. My response was communication. He agreed that he found it to be the same. However, when there are addictions involved, that remains the elephant in the room. Also, when there is abuse, it has to stop. Too often, abusers fail to recognize it in themselves; others don’t care and want to remain in control. Til next week, have a wonderful weekend and thank you for reading my blogs.