9 Ways to De-Stress Your Marriage

Switch Off the Cell Phone
“I call them electronic leashes,” says Jeffry Larson, Ph.D., a professor of marriage and family therapy at Brigham Young University in Utah, and author of The Great Marriage Tune-Up Book (Jossey-Bass, 2002). “Couples go out to dinner and they’re both texting people, or people interrupt their couple communication with a call. I tell people, ‘You do not have to answer the phone!’” Instead, plan a tech-free hour every night: no laptops, no Blackberrys, no texts and no calls. Just you and your spouse, interruption-free. It’s a great way to unplug and unwind—together.

A version of this article originally appeared in the July/August 2009 issue of Conceive Magazine. View the digital issue now!

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