Couples Who Do This One Activity Together Have Twice as Much Sex

The research was carried out on behalf of home audio company Sonos and Apple by neuroscientist Daniel Levitin. For the study, he first surveyed 30,000 people across the globe to learn more about their relationships and music habits. He then carried out a two-week experiment in January of this year on 31 families throughout the world to see what happened when the participants listened to loud music for the first week and then lived quietly for the second.

When music was played throughout the house, families spent an average of three hours, 13 minutes more time together and sat or stood 12% physically closer to one another. Partners who listened to music together also had 67% more sex — which equates to about one more lovemaking instance a week.

“We find that people who listen to music out loud together report that their relationships are stronger,” Levitin says. “They spend more time with loved ones. They spend more time hugging. [U.S. participants reported] they have twice as much sex.”

Participants of the experiment were also 15% more likely to share a laugh and 18% more likely to say, “I love you” to each other when music played.

The study also found that music made participants 23% less irritable, 12% less “jittery,” 25% more inspired, and 22% more physically active.

Music seemed to have an effect on households’ relationship with food as well: participants were 33% more likely to cook together and 15% more likely to share a meal. It even seemed to affect participants’ perception of taste: 58% of the participants said the food they made while music played tasted better.

Although his study, released to promote Apple Music on Sonos, is not definitive, Levitin believes music is being increasingly proven to be an effective medicine for the body and mind.

Feature image via Gavin Whitner