To woo your partner, skip the roses and do the dishes

When it comes to romantic gestures, doing the dishes or bringing your partner a cup of tea may trump a dozen red roses, researchers say.

Researchers from The Open University in the UK have announced findings of a two-year study involving more than 4,000 British adults on how couples feel about their relationship, and how they work to keep it together.

Feeling appreciated was one key way that made couples feel loved, through acts such as bringing cups of tea or taking out the garbage, or simply saying "thank you." Top irritations include snoring, noisy eating, and stacking the dishwasher badly.

Among the findings, the survey revealed that non-heterosexual couples do more relationship maintenance than their heterosexual counterparts, while lesbian and gay participants were shown to be more positive and happier with their relationship and with their partner in general.

Mothers are more negative about their romantic relationships than childless women were. However, mothers were significantly happier with life than any other group, indicating that children could be a primary source of happiness for women.

Mothers are also almost twice more likely than fathers to say that their children are the most important people in their lives. Fathers, however, more often say that their partners are the most important.