how to break your sex drought

According to data collected in 2010 by The Kinsey Institute as part of America's National Survey of Sexual Health and Behaviour, nearly 16 percent of married couples had not hit the sheets in the past six months to a year. (Experts estimate that a large percentage of couples are in low- or no-sex marriages, meaning they're getting busy 10 times a year or fewer.)

Do you and your honey have to be hot and heavy in order to be happy? The short answer: yes. The fact is, sex starvation can endanger a couple's union. Research shows that people in low- and no-sex marriages report that they're less happy and more likely to consider divorce.

"Sex is really about feeling connected," says marriage therapist Michele Weiner-Davis, author of The Sex-Starved Marriage: Boosting Your Marriage Libido. Without that physical connection, many couples begin to feel estranged from each other, inciting a vicious circle of unintentional celibacy: you don't talk about the lack of nookie because it can be easier to ignore the elephant in the (bed)room. This leaves you feeling disconnected, frustrated and even angry, and thus less likely to be raring to jump your guy's bones.

"When the sex drops out of a relationship, emotional closeness on all levels seems to disappear as well. You stop cuddling in bed and even laughing at each other's jokes," says Weiner-Davis. And once you stop having sex, it's hard to know how to start up again, especially because embarrassment, awkwardness and resentment are often associated with such abstinence. But ignoring the touchy topic won't make the problem go away. What will? Taking sex off the back burner – in a big way.