Well, almost anything (bestiality and experimentation with power tools are two no-nos that spring to mind). "New ideas and information are the lifeblood to keeping a long-term sexual relationship thriving. "Ask yourself questions about what you want to do differently: do you want it dirtier, sweeter, kinkier, more passionate, more often?


Grab a pen, some paper and your partner, and each write down six things you've always dreamt of trying - straddling him in your f**k-me boots for example - and put them in a jar beside your bed. If you both write big and little thrills, you can start off dipping your toe in the water so it's not a huge leap from missionary on Wednesday night to you purring in a Catwoman suit by Saturday. "Don't rush through them, one new practice a month is usually doable for most people.

If you need inspiration, there's a $12 billion-dollar adult entertainment industry out there to inspire an ache between your thighs. Reading erotic fiction is a great shortcut to discovering what gives you a dirty mind. Next time he's on the X-box, spend an hour on wicked words to see what we mean.

And it's a myth that women aren't turned on by visual stimulation: a Stanford University, US, study found that women get massively turned on just two minutes into an erotic flick. Google "porn for women" and you'll see we want a hard-on as much as he does. When you've found something you fancy, write it on a note for the jar, suggesting you play it in the background while he does you from behind (so you can both watch the screen) or re-enact certain positions or ideas from the scene.

Saying the words

Why is it that we can express our need for him to take the garbage out but not what we really want in bed? How do you tell him you want him to dress up like a pirate of the Caribbean? According to sex educator Dr Catherine Hood, timing is everything. "Pick a time when you're both in a good mood, maybe just after you've had sex or on a Saturday morning lie-in. Use ‘I' statements, such as ‘I've always wanted to try tying you to the bed with my scarves', or ‘I would love you to tell me what you're doing to me while you're doing it (AKA talking dirty)'."

Then the focus shifts onto what you want. Using "we" also helps in subtly suggesting new things: "Why don't we have a dirty night in on Thursday? We could try reading out loud from that erotic book I bought..." If you feel nervous about how he may react to your fantasy, reframe it as a dream you had last night. Essentially what you're trying to do is open the lines of communication to find out what you're both really into.

The key to truly satisfying sex is to start asking questions about your partner's fantasies and risqué side. "One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to assume you know everything about your partner's sexuality," says Dr Hood. "I've seen couples who have been together for years and not communicated their true desires, because they're embarrassed or simply assume their partner would never want to try it." Just ask, suggests Dr Morrissey.

"Be upfront about your desires. If there's something you want to experiment with, pick a time and say it. Have an agreement not to shame or belittle each other. If your partner takes the risk of exposing a sexual desire, they are really opening themselves up to you, so treat it with respect."

Get down

You know the drill: kiss, kiss, lick, nibble, tickle, screw. Most of us have the same sex in the same bed at the same time. Fine sometimes, but for the rest of your life? Not so much. A study from the University of Chicago of more than 26,000 men and woman in 29 countries found men the world over are more satisfied with their sex lives than women.

What's going on? "Men are solution focused, they like patterns and certainty and that is the same for sex," Brett McCann from the Australian Society of Sex Educators, Researchers and Therapists explains. "Which means they're happy to stick with what they know works, especially if they know it leads to orgasm - yours and theirs."

The fact is that better sex leads to more sex, and that's good for both of you. Thigh-shaking sex doesn't just mean him spending more time pleasuring you (though that's one part we dig); you should also make the effort to find new erogenous zones on your partner: lick, suck, kiss and gently bite the inside of his biceps, his wrists, backs of his knees or his arse cheeks.

"Simply trying something new will encourage him to try something new," says McCann. It's win-win, and the chances are, if you could do with a new way to get your rocks off, he probably could too.

1. Love is like chocolate. There's a reason newlyweds can't get enough of each other: Love is a kind of chemical addiction, says Helen Fisher, Ph.D., an anthropologist at Rutgers University, who scours MRI bran scans for the secrets of love.

Falling in love activates the "pleasure" centers of the brain and increases production of the feel-good chemical dopamine, which plays a key role in addictions. And eating chocolate affects the same brain regions, which is why it's hard to stop at one piece of candy. How?



A surge of dopamine is part of a chemical cocktail that boosts your mood and energy levels, and sharpens your ability to focus on -- read: obsess about -- your sweetie. Is it possible to feel that rush even after you've been married for years? Absolutely. "Novelty drives up dopamine too," says Fisher. So you can get a boost from trying something new in the bedroom or ordering takeout Thai food instead of your usual pizza.

2. Your nose knows he's the one. Did you just know he was the man for you? Thank your sense of smell. "Women can sniff out a partner who is a good genetic match for having kids," says James V. Kohl, a clinical laboratory scientist and coauthor of "The Scent of Eros: Mysteries of Odor in Human Sexuality." Kohl and other smell researchers have found that women are instinctively drawn to the scent of men who are genetically different from them, which is a good thing.

"If you choose a partner whose genes are too similar to yours, your children are at an increased risk for health problems," he explains. What draws you to one guy over another is his pheromones, unique chemical by-products of hormone production. Women are especially good at detecting pheromones during ovulation, when our sense of smell is strongest. When you like what you smell, your estrogen levels go up, sparking desire.

3. Marriage doesn't make you crazy -- it keeps you sane. Forget the popular image of the married couple driving each other nuts. "Studies show that getting married improves mental health and decreases depression," says Linda Waite, Ph.D., a sociologist at the University of Chicago and coauthor of "The Case for Marriage."

In fact, one study found that people who've never walked down the aisle are more likely to be admitted to a psychiatric facility. "Many women gain a deep satisfaction from the intimacy found in marriage," says Scott Haltzman, M.D., clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Brown University. "That sense of belonging bolsters their sense of self-worth and purpose," enhancing their mental stability.

4. Marriage keeps you healthy, too. Saying "I do" isn't just good for your mind. Married people -- even those in less-than-perfect unions -- are physically healthier than those people who aren't married. They have stronger immune systems, better resistance to viruses such as colds and flus, fewer long-term illnesses and disabilities, fewer hospitalizations, better survival rates for the illnesses they do get, and longer life spans -- by up to eight years! Interestingly, though, when it comes to preventing heart disease and strokes, studies have found that being hitched helps only if your relationship is happy. "Your heart knows whether your marriage is good or not," notes Haltzman.

5. It's better to be hitched than rich. What makes people happiest? Being wealthy helps, but it's a solid marriage that seems to rank highest on the smile scale. According to a Dartmouth study, having a good marriage is equal to the satisfaction gained from earning an extra $100,000 a year. So you really can be rich in love.

If you are interested in free dating websites, you aren’t necessarily looking for a long-term commitment or a trip down the aisle. One of the primary misconceptions people have about online dating is that everyone is either looking to cheat on a spouse or looking for marriage. That’s not always the case. In fact, you can use free dating websites to find many different types of relationships.

Friendships

Sometimes even making a platonic relationship can be a challenge in the modern world, especially if you don’t have a lot of connections to other people through your job. With more and more people working in the home or through telecommuting, those job-based friendships are becoming fewer and farther between. And outside of work, there aren’t many places to make friends with other adults once you finish your education.

Thankfully, free dating websites can also help you connect with people for friendships. In fact, you might find that some of your closest online friends are people with whom there was no romantic spark but with whom you share common interests.

Casual Dating

One of the advantages of free dating websites is that you can keep things casual if you choose, especially if you don’t live too far apart from one another. There’s no reason you have to make a serious commitment to someone just because you met through free dating websites. Instead, you can make plans to go out on the weekend while also dating other people – maybe even people you’ve met through the same sites. Obviously, the big advantage to this approach is you can meet more people and test the waters to see if any of them might be good material for a more long-lasting relationship, if that’s something you want to consider for the future.

Commitment

Of course, there are people using free dating websites who are primarily looking for someone to spend the rest of their lives with. Some of these folks have been in serious relationships in the past which ended badly. Others are tired of casual dating and want something more solid. You’ll find all ages of people looking for committed relationships, too. And not all of these people want marriage necessarily. Sometimes they would just be happy to live together or to be exclusive.

Same Sex

Free dating websites have also made it easier for people of the same sex to find one another. Not knowing the sexual preference of other people can make it difficult to know who to approach with one’s feelings in the offline world but in the online sphere more people are open about what they are looking for in a partner and this can make the process easier and less threatening for both parties.

Regardless of what you are looking for in a relationship, you owe it to the other members of the free dating websites to be upfront and honest about those desires. Otherwise, you could end up sending the wrong messages to people and causing some people to get hurt unnecessarily.

Over the last decade, online dating has made great strides through the Internet medium. Nowadays, online dating has evolved to become a prevalent form of matchmaking, allowing individuals to mingle and create romantic, friendly, and other social relationships. Online dating has seen exponential growth, and has succeeded to position itself as a huge hit amid masses.

You can explore online dating websites and browse through a myriad of member profiles varying in every type of demographic one can think of. Whatever your personal background may be, the odds of running into someone similar are exceptionally high within an online dating environment. You can communicate with a variety of people contrasting in age, location, qualifications, sexual orientation, as well as interests. Based on the criteria you have constructed for yourself, you can size up potential mates. Since there are plenty of fish in the sea when online dating, you can select the profiles you are attracted to, and correspond with the other party.

In an online dating scenario, there are no barriers whatsoever! Who you choose to converse with and why you do so is entirely your call. Online dating gives you the freedom to pick and choose from innumerable options that are made available to you. Furthermore, online dating offers you with possibilities you would have otherwise never encountered. For instance, if you are a kindergarten teacher, the chances of you meeting someone from the stock market previously have probably been slim to none. Online dating changes the dynamics of such set-ups and presents you with endless prospects for you to opt from.

Once you have delved deeper into the enormous online dating databases of profiles loaded with member information and pictures, you can go ahead and start chatting. The great thing about online dating is that you can speak to someone, without revealing too much of your personal life right off the bat. It is advisable to maintain some secrecy when talking to someone through an online dating medium for the first time. You can set your own pace, and when you have seemed to strike a comfort level with the other person, you can share more personal information.

An added advantage of maintaining an anonymous online dating identity arises when other members approach you. If you are not interested in what the other party has to offer, you are free to ignore their requests. When your name and identity is unlisted, you can feel more comfortable doing so. Another scenario to consider is when you are already dating someone online, and things do not seem to work out, it becomes easier to break it off. Through an online dating system, calling it quits is less painful that it could be in person.