Words of Love?

Sex
As a result of all our attempts to conform, many of us engage in complicated pretences in the course of our courtships.

For example, mathematicians have demonstrated that when comparing the number of sexual partners men and women have had, it's logically impossible for men to have had significantly more partners than women. In other words - most of us are lying. Men are beefing their numbers up and women are reducing theirs.

Commitment
For the woman who is lying awake at night wondering if the man in her life will commit to her, there is something to be said for checking you're both on the same page.

It can be helpful to do this whether you're a guy resistant to settling down, or a girl who has already set a date for her wedding but still needs a groom.

That's because there are few things worse than discovering you and your partner are in two totally different relationships, albeit with each other.

Domestic Bliss
Our expectations of how the home is run have changed significantly in the last few years.

Last year, an American survey found women were taking charge of more household decisions and, in some cases, were even getting to share the remote control.

But in an interesting twist, men are happy to take on household duties.

Conflict
While everyone likes it when their romance is defined by smooth sailing, it's actually very healthy and necessary to have the occasional sparring match with your other half.

Choosing to deal with minor disagreements by ignoring them may seem like the easy solution, but you can actually be doing yourselves a disservice.

That's because sorting through the occasional bit of dissent over whether to buy organic carrots gives you useful experience of disputing and reconciling. So when big disagreements appear, you'll be familiar with how each of you deal with it.