Why some couples start feeling more like housemates than romantic partners: Psychology explains how daily routines, emotional distance and unspoken needs can slowly change a relationship

One 14-day study of couples living together, indexed on PMU, found that greater loneliness in either partner was linked with less intimacy for both of them. In other words, feeling disconnected isn’t a private problem. When one person withdraws, the other often feels it, and the cycle can feed itself. Separate research on older US couples, using the Health and Retirement Study, found more than a third of married older adults experience loneliness, and that having a lonely spouse makes it more likely you’ll feel lonely too. Being married, on its own, doesn’t protect against feeling alone.