Sex File: Why do men bore me so much? 

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I'm a 31-year-old woman and I cannot seem to stay interested in a sexual partner for longer than six months. I try so hard, but I find myself looking outside the relationship for another partner after a few months. Am I faced with relationship hopping for the rest of my life?

A: The reason you feel compelled to pursue new "sexual partners" is the same reason you felt compelled to pursue previous ones - the clue is in your use of that phrase. Sexual attraction is human catnip, and the euphoria that we experience in the early stages of a new relationship is the best natural high there is. The brain responds to the erotic cocktail of dopamine, oxytocin, vasopressin and serotonin in the same way that it responds to MDMA, cocaine or heroin and, as with the class-A substances, the high doesn't last - the all-consuming passion that propels new relationships has a shelf life of about six months, as you have discovered.