It’s official: we get bored after two years of marriage

Never mind the seven-year itch. It’s now proven that we get bored after just two. We’ve no choice, says Suzanne Harrington, humans are hard-wired that way

THERE’S a new romcom out on Feb 8 called I Give It A Year — perhaps Katy Perry and Russell Brand were the inspiration — but when it comes to the optimum human love window, I Give It Two Years would be more accurate. Because, folks, that’s how long passionate love lasts. Any longer and we would all die of exhaustion.

You know how it feels. You’ve met someone and fallen for them. Oh, what bliss. Everything is heightened. Music sounds better, colours are brighter, you are in a permanent state of arousal — emotional, psychological, romantic, the lot. Sleeping and eating become optional extras, as does the normal stuff, like concentrating on work, or getting anything done. It’s intense and magical and passionate and all-consuming. It’s a feeling as addictive as a drug.