You might be wondering how long does passion last in a relationship and is it possible for it to never go away? Well, we don't have such good news for you. Passion in a relationship has its own expiration date and it can disappear so quickly!
Falling in love is perhaps one of the most intoxicating substances that nature has given us. Just looking at your loved one makes our heart skip a beat, our legs go weak, and our face flushes. And if we touch that person, well, you know... Movies try to make us feel that way forever, but that intense romance and sexual passion has an expiration date.
Expect the passion to last two to three years at most, says dr. Fred Nour, a neuroscientist in Mission Viejo, California, and author of True Love: How to Use Science to Understand Love.
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It's all about the chemicals in our brains—a potent mix that nature created so we can reproduce, give birth to a healthy baby, and care for it until it grows up. Despite the common association of infatuation and passion with the heart, the latter has nothing to do with love. Everything related to love happens in the brain, says Nour. This includes romance and passion – programmed to be rather short-lived for each of us.
"Romance will never last a lifetime," says Nour. "You have to accept that being in love is just a phase that will go away... If we accept that, we will have less divorces and more happy people."
If, after the passion subsides, wanes, or almost disappears, you decide that your partner is still the right person for you, you're on your way to true love. This happens gradually and slowly: you usually start to feel it one or two years after the end of romantic love. Fueled by chemicals called nonapeptides, this stage ensures a deep bond between you and your partner. Nature makes sure that they stay together to take care of their children until they grow up, adds Nour.
The result is a happier, stronger and longer-lasting relationship. This is the greatest love.
When is passion in a relationship at its peak?
It was published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, a specialized magazine for sexual habits study, which involved 3,000 couples aged 25 to 41 who had been in a relationship for three years. After analyzing variables such as age, gender and length of relationship, the researchers found that the majority of respondents had experienced the greatest sexual passion in the second half of the first year of the relationship. After that first year, their sex drive began to wane. It actually is fell by as much as 30 percent in the 16th month of the union. This is another study that somehow confirms that passion will be with us for a maximum of three years and that in the future it will be necessary to work on the partner's sex life. Read what you can do for better sex here.
The authors of the study explained why these six months in the first year of a relationship are the most exciting period. "During this period, partners learn about each other's sexual desires, but on the other hand, the relationship is still fresh and full of enthusiasm."
It should be noted that the authors of the study chose a limited age group, so much more research would be needed to be able to answer when people are at the peak of sexual passion in a partner relationship.
