Why Booze Might Be the Secret to a Happy Marriage

Good news, cocktailing couples. New research suggests that the couple that drinks together, stays together.

The study, published in The Journals of Gerontology B: Psychology Sciences, looked at nearly 3,000 couples who had been married for an average of 33 years. The subjects were asked how much and how often they drank, as well as whether they found their partners “irritating, critical, or too demanding,” according to Vice.

In more than 50 percent of the marriages, both spouses drank a fairly equal amount. These couples also had a seemingly healthier relationship than the couples in which one partner drank and the other abstained. Teetotaling couples similarly experienced marital bliss. But, researchers found that marriages in which only one partner was sober led to increased dissatisfaction.

This doesn’t mean a drink can fix an unhappy marriage. “We’re not suggesting that people should drink more or change the way they drink,” study author Kira Birdie of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor told Reuters. “But it could be that couples that do more leisure time activities together have better marital quality.”

So it may not be the booze itself that’s keeping the flame alive, but rather the intimate shared experience of meeting up for post-work happy hours, endeavoring to make an authentic tiki cocktail or uncorking a vintage bottle of wine.

If you are looking to have a liquor-enhanced, romantic evening with your special someone, nothing brings a couple closer than mixing up some cocktails together at home. Just stay away from Coca-Cola mixed drinks—trust us.