Intimacy isn’t just something that comes naturally. It requires communication and effort for it to flourish and contribute to a healthy relationship. 

Keep reading to learn the importance of intimacy in a relationship, what can prevent it from happening, and 5 ways to rebuild intimacy in your relationship.

Why Is Intimacy In A Relationship Important?

There are two forms of intimacy in a relationship, emotional and physical. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to have a healthy physical/sexual intimacy in a relationship without first building healthy emotional intimacy. 

Without these two forms of intimacy present it becomes very difficult to feel safe emotionally, be vulnerable, be trusting, and to be communicative with your needs, thoughts, and feelings. Being unable to have these characteristics in a relationship leads to it ultimately being unhealthy. Overall, emotional and physical intimacy help build the foundation of a relationship and the lack of them have serious negative repercussions on a relationship.

What Causes Intimacy to Stop

There are many causes that stop intimacy. The most prevalent reason is when partners don’t understand what is needed to support emotional safety and connection with one another. This is because without these two aspects, there cannot be emotional intimacy and therefore no healthy physical intimacy as well. 

Underlying reasons include lack of time and energy, mismatched libidoes, and roommate syndrome to name a few. Lack of time and energy can be a result of financial factors, having children, or very demanding areas of a partner’s life outside of their relationship. Mismatched libidoes can lead to an avoidance of intimacy as the partners sexual desires don’t match. Roommate syndrome can happen when you and your partner have been living together for awhile and is when the sexual sparks between the two of you become dampened. There are various other reasons that cause intimacy to stop but these are some of the most common.

5 Ways to Rebuild Intimacy In Your Relationship

  1. Learn what your unconscious intimacy patterns are in relationship and reprogram them.

  2. Find out what you and your partners love language is and how to mutually support both.

  3. Develop effective communication tools and skills that can build emotional safety and intimacy.

  4. Utilize effective boundary setting and educational consequences that teach your partner why they’re there when they are broken.

  5. Learn effective conflict resolution skills that will lead to win-win outcomes.

Continue to Grow Your Relationship

We hope this blog has helped you discover the importance of intimacy, evaluate it in your relationship, and learn how to reinstate it if it is in need to be rebuilt. Continue to learn more and grow your relationship by downloading our free PDF Relationship Health Check.