If you and your spouse act like buddies (or worse-roommates who tolerate each other) here are some simple things you can do to help bring the passion back into your marriage and get back to feeling “in love”:

Touch each other more often.

Touch is so important in a happy marriage. It releases Oxytocin and connects you both on a soulful level. Rub each other’s backs when you walk by one another in the kitchen. Kiss in the morning and before bed. Hold hands when you walk together. These small gestures help you both to crave each other’s bodies more when you are physically separated.

Make your time together quality time.

Next time you spend some time together, stop talking about the in-laws and the kids and take a trip down memory lane. Go out to eat at a restaurant you used to go to when you were dating and get dressed up for each other as if you are going on a date. The more you treat your time together like you are dating instead of bored with marriage and stuck with each other, the longer the romance will survive.

Sweat together.

When a married couple can sweat it out together on a hike or a bike ride around town, endorphins are released and you will probably be more in the mood to celebrate the end of such a fun, adventuresome day with some fun adventuring under the sheets. Having done a physical activity together will also leave you both feeling more productive than if you had sat around all Saturday watching television together. This productivity and effort to improve your health will make you feel more like a healthy team instead of like two people who encourage each other to be lazy. This team spirit will make both of you feel closer and will lead to more attraction.

Read to each other.

I know a lot of married couples who enjoy reading side-by-side: newspapers at breakfast or novels in the evening. What’s even better is if you both read the same book at the same time… aloud. Taking turns reading to each other creates a bond that is very powerful. Storytelling around the fire was a tradition centuries ago when no one had the luxuries of television and internet. It was a way to feel connected through words and fantasy. It also forces you to listen, on end, to the voice of your spouse. This helps to create a deeper bond to your loved one in your brain, which makes you feel more loving feelings in your heart. You can read fiction together or even a relationship self-help book. It doesn’t matter the genre, only that you two are both interested in the subject matter.