how to make your love last

Survey says:
During their first year together, 68 percent of couples talk and touch after sex. After five years, almost half are still into post-coital cuddling and conversation. But past the 10-year mark, only a third do anything other than nod off.

What gives? In the early stages of "us", we crave heart-to-hearts because, frankly, we don't know our partner very well, says Dr Scott Haltzman, co-author of The Secrets of Happily Married Women. And it's after sex that you may feel closest – which means it's prime time to spill secrets, confessions and goals. But as the years pass, mutual navel-gazing falls lower on our to-do list. "After 10 years, couples are more involved with the world around them than they are with each other," says Haltzman. "They juggle school meetings, business trips – they don't have the luxury of staying up all night just to talk."

Love-sustaining strategy Hunt advises diarising an evening, sans kids and commitments, so you can have an uninterrupted night of talking, touching, kissing, lovemaking and waking up to each other. Most importantly, keep communicating. Tell him what you need from him to keep you feeling special, sexy and needed. Then find out what he needs from you.