Older Couples Are More Likely To Sleep Apart
The research comes with the release of new film Hope Springs, in which the main characters played by Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones experience practically no sexual intimacy and sleep in separate rooms.
Extra marital dating site IllicitEncounters.com surveyed British couples and found that 13 per cent of them admit to sleeping in separate beds.
Shockingly, a further 5 per cent said they would prefer to spend the night with their cat or dog and 15 per cent said they now realise they are the polar opposite of their partner.
The majority of platonic marriages occur when the couple are in their mid to late 40’s and increase to 1 in 5 marriages being platonic when couples reach their 50’s.
Illicit Encounters spokesperson Rosie Freeman-Jones said “Our surveys have shown that a growing number of 40 and 50-somethings now live in marriages without any physical intimacy.
“Just like Tommy Lee Miller and Meryl Streep’s character in Hope Springs, more and more husbands are wives now find themselves in relationships that lack any kind of physical affection or passion.”
The survey also found that 70 per cent of British men and 50 of British women are unhappy with the sex, or lack of, in their marriage.
One such husband David, 45 from south London and has been a member of Illicit Encounters said, “‘I’ve been married for 16 years and my wife is 46. We’ve not had any kind of intimacy for nearly three years now and have had separate rooms for the past 18 months. I really miss it and I would love to be intimate with her again.
“She says she’s still very much in love with me but now says that sex is unimportant to her even though she’s only 46. We used to have a good sex life but it has gone and I just don’t know what to do any more.
“I joined the Illicit Encounters site after it was clear that nothing was going to change in my home life but I’m a passionate person and have needs there. I’ve tried to initiate things with my wife even recently but she just laughs it off.”
Rosie says that this is where their site comes into play, acknowledging that members don’t simply want to leave their partners, they just crave the physical intimacy that they no longer get at home.
She says, “The vast majority of husbands and wives who join our site state very clearly that are still very much in love with their partner and have no intention of leaving them – but they are in need of some passion and physical intimacy which their partner is no longer interested in.”
Do you and your partner sleep separately? Do you think that a marriage is over once you begin sleeping separately?
Let us know your thoughts by commenting below or tweeting us @FemaleFirst_UK
Cara Mason
tagged in Marriage relationships Bedrooms Sleep Couples