'What Happy Couples Do' To Stay Happy: Get Away
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Sometimes you just need to get away, as we learned from Janet Jackson.
With Valentine's Day just a week from Thursday, now is a great time to be thinking about your plans. So we looked into what makes happy, healthy couples stick together. We found out it is escaping, seriously.
An expert in family studies and communication at the University of St. Thomas said it's crucial to get away from responsibility and focus on your spouse every once in a while.
"To remove yourself physically from all that responsibility gives you the chance to focus on what is in front of you, which is your spouse," said Dr. Carol Bruess. "There is lots of scientific evidence which suggests that little bit of novelty and minusing out the, even if it's psychological responsibility of knowing where people are at and what needs to be done, that is doing your marriage good."
Bruess is also the author of the book "What Happy Couples Do." She's interviewed hundreds of couples over the years. Bruess said there is great value of those weekend getaways that many couples take, even if it's just an overnight stay at a hotel not far from home.
"Those little getaways are actually significant moments where you can fill up your emotional bank account in your marriage. Even if it is just where you check in and lie around and watch TV and you have some time where you don't have to think about anything else," Bruess said. "The knowing that you are doing this together, the symbolic value of 'we are taking time for us and we are doing this,' that lasts well beyond the weekend or the evening."
We looked in the hotel rates here in the Twin Cities and found that on Friday and Saturday nights are much cheaper than during the week, when business travelers are reserving rooms. We used the website hotels.com to do a quick check of rates for Saturday, Feb. 16.
You could stay at the Hilton hotel in downtown Minneapolis for $69, the Marriott in Minnetonka for $89 or the Hotel Sofitel in Bloomington for $100.
