"The excitement of getting married gives couples a hit of dopamine -- a feel-good brain chemical that increases sex drive. For a few months after marriage, things may stay hot, and while you still love each other and feel passionate about each other, the dopamine does settle down. You're back to real life. Your normal sex-drive set point kicks back in. Your expectations about married sex take over. It's the perfect time to do the delicious work of deepening your sexual bond." says marriage and sex therapist Pat Love, Ed.D.
"The
challenge for couples is balancing a sense of intimacy and safety and
security with a sense of unpredictability and creativity and
eroticism," says Barry McCarthy, Ph.D., a psychology
professor at American University in Washington, D.C. "When
sexual intimacy is strong, making love plays a healthy 15 to 20
percent role in energizing your marriage. The paradox is that when
sex is problematic, it plays an inordinately powerful, negative role
in new marriages."
