Want a long, happy marriage? Drink wine with your partner

Ask any relationship expert as to what makes a marriage happy and successful, and they'll tell you the key is communication, the right attitude, picking your battles, and keeping intimacy.

But what if we told you that apart from these obviously important things, drinking together can also keep your relationship thriving?

Surprised? We were too when we came across the findings of a University of Michigan study which state that couples with similar drinking habits tend be happier as compared to couples where only one partner drinks.

The study analysed data from over 2,500 older married couples who were involved in the long-term Health and Retirement Survey conducted in the US. The team conducted face-to-face interviews with participating couples over the course of 10 years--from 2006 to 2016--to come to the conclusion that not having similar drinking habits as your partner can indeed break up your marriage.

Here's how they did it: the research team asked each partner if they drank, and if so how much alcohol they consumed in one week and in one sitting. They  further asked the couples about the quality of their marriage, and whether they found their spouse to be reliable, demanding, critical, irritating etc.

The study found that husbands on an average drank more than their wives; though the wives were dissatisfied with their marriage in cases where they drank while their husbands didn't.

"We're not suggesting that people should drink more or change the way they drink," the study author Dr Kira Birditt told Reuters Health.

"We're not sure why this is happening, but it could be that couples that do more leisure time activities together have better marital quality," she added.