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A new study suggests that the more time men spend on household tasks, like cleaning, ironing, vacuuming etc, the less sex they have.

The research, out of the University of Washington, shows that couples who keep to traditional household chores - where men rake leaves or fix the car and women tidy up or shop - have significantly more carnal encounters than their more egalitarian counterparts.

"Our findings suggest the importance of socialized gender roles for sexual frequency in heterosexual marriage," lead author Sabino Kornrich, junior researcher at the Center for Advanced Studies at the Juan March Institute in Madrid, said in a press release.

"Couples in which men participate more in housework typically done by women report having sex less frequently. Similarly, couples in which men participate more in traditionally masculine tasks -- such as yard work, paying bills, and auto maintenance -- report higher sexual frequency."

The study, which was published in the February edition of the American Sociological Review, surveyed 4,500 heterosexual married U.S. couples from 1992 to 1994. The average age for men was 46, and women were around 44.

The study found that couples spend an average of 34 hours a week on so-called "female" chores and 17 hours on more traditional male tasks. It also found that couples overall reported about five sexual encounters a month.

Couples where the husband contributed to household chores, but stuck to the more stereotypically male tasks (car maintenance, bill paying, yard work) had sex 0.7 times more than those where the wife did all the male work.

That means that couples where husbands do no traditionally female tasks have sex the most: 4.85 times a month. Conversely, couples where men do all the female work have sex the least: 3.3 times a month.