50 DATE IDEAS TO PUT THE SPARK BACK IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP

The passionate phase of love typically subsides somewhere between nine and 12 months making it difficult to keep the sparks flying thereafter. What was once intense, passionate, new and exciting can easily become mundane, routine and even exhausting without the proper maintenance and nurturance. Life’s interrupters such as children, bills, careers, constant bickering, complacent attitudes and a host of other responsibilities can wear on established relationships draining the passion and intensity from the heart of the union. Partners go from spending every waking minute pining for one another to living like roommates after allowing responsibilities to take precedence over the relationship.

Even worse, the decline of long-term dating and relationships that has occurred in recent years with the advent of online human catalogs otherwise known as dating apps has made it even easier to dispose of intimate partners. When relationships take a turn for the worse, it’s as easy as a swipe to the right to find a replacement or at least a temporary pseudo-replacement. This makes it harder than ever to maintain a healthy, active, lasting relationship.

However, all is not lost. Relationships, like any long-term commitment, take work, effort, nurturance and care. Perhaps more importantly, to keep the passion alive, they need excitement and novelty, and there’s actually quite a bit of science behind this need. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter, and norepinephrine, a hormone, play a major role in sexual arousal and the experience of being in love. The presence of these chemicals increase the levels of testosterone leading to the experience of arousal, desire and pleasure seeking.

The good news is that there are ways to increase the levels of these chemicals in order to re-ignite the drive and passion partners have for one another. Dopamine levels rise when we are in a heightened state of awareness as with doing new, exciting and novel things. Research actually indicates that we tend to fall in love during times of heighten stress such as when you are studying for finals or having a difficult time at work. In these instances, stress hormones levels rise, which then trigger the release of dopamine.

These same hormones are released when attempting to learn something new, engage in critical thinking or embark on an adventurous activity. Partners can keep the passion alive through the experience a host of pleasurable, hormone-inducing activities that help to break up the monotony of a stale routine. The following is a list of 50 date ideas (in no particular order) partners can experience to add some much needed passion and intensity to established relationships.