Seven-year itch has become the three-year wobble

Relationships are now thought to falter at the 36-month mark with less romance and more arguing, a new study says

Relationships just took a big hit. The traditional seven-year itch where couples start to cool off has been reduced to a three-year wobble, according to new research.

As longer working hours and financial pressures take their toll on modern love (not to mention the inappropriate toe clippings and deafening snoring) these new findings pinpoint the unlucky 36-month mark as the time that couples begin to take each other for granted.

The survey of 2,000adults in steady relationships found that 67%of all of those surveyed said that small irritations that were endearing during the first throes of passion often expand into major irritations around this time.

Couples in loving relationships over three years argue for an average of 2.7 hours every week, compared with 1.2 hours of those who are still in the heady first stages of love, suggests the study.

'Me and my boyfriend are approaching the three year mark,' says Caroline John, 26, from London. 'I think that when you live together it is harder to keep things fun and fresh because you have so many other things to think about: like bills, dishes and the in-laws.'

And you can forget sex: those couples who have stayed together this long have less than a third as much sex as the newer couples and a whopping 55% of Brits have to 'schedule' time together for intimacy.

Passion killers include weight gain, money worries, personal hygiene and lapsed fashion sense.

The study was commissioned to mark the launch of the new Farrelly Brothers comedy, Hall Pass, which opens on Friday the 11th March.

Prepare to say goodbye to dinners out and loving compliments, while the niggles increase, the romance disappears. The results of the study reported that three in ten of those together for at least five years say they no longer receive compliments from their other half and eat out just once a month.

So are relationships doomed from day one? What do you think? CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH NEWS