10 Positive Habits to Keep your Marriage Healthy and Strong

Forming good habits is essential for your health, your career, and especially your marriage.

Even something as simple as kissing your spouse goodbye each morning before he heads to work can turn into a healthy habit that strengthens your marriage.

Making your marriage strong takes time and energy, but it doesn’t have to feel like work. By forming good relationship habits such as communicating regularly and spending time away from electronics weekly, you’ll be setting yourself up for a lifelong, happy marriage.

Research suggests that it only takes three weeks to create a new habit, so why not start today?

Here are 10 positive habits to keep your marriage healthy and strong.

Choose to See the Best

Nobody is perfect, so get ahead and start appreciating your partner for who they are, not who you want them to be. Choose to see the best in your partner and shower them with compliments about their wonderful qualities. Focusing on the positive in your mate will make you feel happier and more satisfied with your marriage.

Kiss Every Day

This positive habit to keep your marriage healthy also happens to be a fun one: Kiss every day. Have you ever heard the phrase “A picture is worth 1000 words”? This phrase sums up kissing very well. Kissing is a sweet gesture that can be done for a wide variety of reasons. You can kiss to express love and desire, you can kiss to say thank you or to express need. You may also kiss out of adoration for your partner.

Whatever reason for locking lips, marriage therapists suggest doing a 6-second kiss each and every day to help build intimacy.

Make Time for One Another

One essential habit in every relationship is to prioritize your time. Between busy schedules and possibly raising children, it can be difficult to get in your alone time. Happy couples find time to reconnect and make one another a priority, even if they only have 30 minutes each day to spend time together. Choose quality time with your spouse over quantity.

Be Intimate Regularly

Sex is important to both males and females in relationships. There are many health benefits to having sex every day with your mate, such as lowering blood pressure, promoting a healthy immune system, creates a better night sleep, improving bladder control, heart health, and more.  Health benefits aside, sex is how people build intimacy and connect as lovers, so it’s important to have it regularly. The frequency of your sexual rendezvous is unique to each couple, but it should be at least once a week or more to gain the most benefits both physically and emotionally.

Show Respect, it Builds Trust

Showing respect to your partner is a positive habit that will keep your marriage healthy and happy.  Giving respect lets your partner know that their thoughts, feelings, and privacy matter to you. This considerate action builds trust and makes your partner feel dignified and valued in the relationship.

Go Tech-Free, give Undivided Attention to your Partner

An evening of television can be relaxing for couples, not to mention, a great opportunity to get your cuddles in. However, you cannot build a connection with one another when you are both staring at a screen.

As tempting as it is to settle in on the couch after a long, hard day at work, it’s difficult to connect with your partner when you’re both buried in your smartphones. Turn off the television and your smartphones one evening out of the week and give your partner your undivided attention. This gives you both the opportunity to talk to one another, connect, and have a little romance.

Be Appreciative, No Room for Rudeness

One of the first things to disappear in a long-term relationship is, unfortunately, your manners.

You stop saying the simple things like ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’. Being comfortable in your marriage is no excuse to be rude! Be sure to express your gratitude to your mate every day. Look for positive ways to express your gratitude to your partner, as well as acknowledge the kind things they do.

This will make your partner feel amazing about themselves. This practice also gives you the opportunity to pay special attention to small things your spouse does for you that you may never have noticed before, such as making you a coffee every morning or always wiping down the bathroom sink.

Love in Word and Deed

Showing your love is an essential habit of maintaining a healthy marriage. Sincerely telling your partner that you love them each day can make your connection stronger and improve happiness in the relationship. You can also show your love with physical touch, and thoughtful actions. Saying I love you is like reassuring your partner that you are committed to your relationship.

Spend Time Together Laughing

Laughing is healthy for couples. Laughing can break up tense moments and can make you feel more endeared toward your partner. Have a laugh or a giggle each day can also release dopamine, which is triggered by the reward center of the brain. Dopamine makes you happy and is responsible for feelings of euphoria and increased energy.

When you laugh with your partner, your brain associates those euphoric emotions with your mate, which makes you feel happier when you are around them.

Communicate Regularly

Regular communication is a great habit to form if you’re looking to have the healthiest relationship possible.

When you talk to your partner you bond, build trust, and practice honesty.  Many couples enjoy doing a weekly “Marriage Check-In” where both partners talk positively about what they are enjoying in the relationship and give constructive advice on how to better the areas that still need work. This is a great forum for both partners to air their worries, concerns, and desires in a safe atmosphere.

In order to maintain a happy, healthy relationship it is important to show love, remain united as partners, give each other the time of day, and communicate about things both big and small. Practice these 10 positive habits to keep your marriage healthy and strong for the rest of your lives.