Lust :Sex chemistry lasts two years max. And?

Been in a relationship longer than a couple of years? First flush of romance worn off? Well, duh. For some reasonworked hard to identify the specific hormones which downgrade your libido from "passionate lust" to "let's just cuddle".

The team from the University of Pisa, Italy, discovered that hormones called neutrophins are responsible for the slowly diminishing sense of lust, with those in the first flush of romance showing much higher levels.

Dr. Petra Boynton of the British Psychological Society hastened to add that this did not mean the first flush is the best bit

She cautioned that we should not necessarily attempt to revisit that, since the settled relationship feelings can be much more valuable and was concerned that the research would lead to attempts to synthesise these hormones.

Testosterone also increases in loved-up women, and decreases in loving men; couples who had been in a relationship for between one and two years had decreased "love molecules", though the relationships were functioning well. Instead, increased levels of oxytocin, the chemical the induces labour and milk production in new and pregnant mothers, were found in the couples and that's the secure cuddle factor.

I suspect anyone in a long term relationship will be wondering how they can report this to the Department of the Bleedin' Obvious around now