A new study has revealed that couples who drink together regularly have much happier relationships, and therefore stay together longer.

The research used 4,864 married people for the study, all of whom had been in their relationships for over 33 years. Asked questions about their drinking habits, the results proved that men were more likely to drink than women. It also found that couples who drink together were more likely to be happy than those who don’t. However, the study also found that when one person drinks a lot more than the other, it can cause general unhappiness in the relationship - especially for women. “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,” one of the researchers on the study, Dr Kira Birdtt, told Reuters. While the study did say that couples who drink together were more likely to be happy, it also said that it was all down to the similar levels of alcohol consumed. Therefore couples who don’t drink at all were also happier than those who drink varying levels.