Warning issued to couples who have sex less than once a week

Women who have sex at least once a week are the 'happiest' in their relationship

On the contrary, only 66% of women who had sex once a month reported the same level of satisfaction.

The percentage dropped to 17 among those women who had intercourse less than this.

Alexandra Janssen, a researcher at the University of Manchester, and the author of the new study argues that the findings show the importance of regular intimacy within relationships.

She told MailOnline: "While the study shows an association between frequency of sex and sexual relationship satisfaction, this is only a correlation.

"We don’t know whether women are happier because they are having more sex if they are having more sex because they are happier, or if they are happier and having more sex because of other factors-perhaps they don’t have kids.

"Also, the fact that women who have less sex are also less satisfied in their relationship isn’t particularly surprising."

The findings also showed that satisfaction was higher for women who reported more regular orgasms and rated sex as an important part of their lives.

Now, these findings don't seem all too surprising, however, there was one discovery that caught Alexandra Janssen's attention.

Ms Janssen explained: "What I found interesting in the study was that, while women who orgasmed more frequently were generally happier in their sex lives, women who orgasmed 100 per cent of the time weren’t the most satisfied.

"This contradicts the belief that women are most satisfied when they have an orgasm at every sexual encounter. It shows that women don’t have to orgasm every time they have sex to be satisfied in their relationship.

"I hope that this takes the pressure off women who might struggle to achieve orgasm 100 per cent of the time."

According to the study among the women surveyed, those aged 18 to 24 were most likely to report being sexually satisfied.

By contrast, women over the age of 45 were the least likely to report being satisfied with the level of intimacy within their relationship.

Even though these findings are in line with findings from past research, the study does have its implications.

The research was based on a survey of 483 women from New Zealand who had been in a committed relationship within the past year.

Due to the research being a survey, there was no way to verify if the women reported truthfully.

Adding to that the surveyed group consisted of predominantly heterosexual women, which limits the scope of findings to other groups.

That being said, multiple studies have found that regular sex is great for our overall health, and helps boost your mood.

It can even potentially help us to live longer.