How many dates do you need before you can start a serious relationship?

When you're dating, you know at some point: it can go two ways now. Either we meet again and it gets serious, or it's over and done after this sleepover.

That's how things go. Those unwritten rules, you mainly find them in the world of dating. Like knowing when to text or not, for example, to keep that tension alive. Or that you might as well not stay over after that second date. We don't say it out loud, but we all think it, those little laws that exist. Because let's face it: if you play it smart, you'll have that loved one wrapped around your finger and he/she will obediently sit as your partner on your couch.

Now it has been researched how many dates you are actually ready for a serious relationship. Because honestly, meeting in the pub and at the cinema is fun; after a while, you need to move on. It turns out that three months is the ultimate time to casually ‘hang out’ and ‘casual’ with each other. After those three months, it's either go for it or not. Either you go for it and start doing more serious things like introducing each other to friends, or you throw in the towel and reinstall Tinder. After these months, say that you see each other twice a week, so a total of 24 dates, people really become more honest with each other and the initial excitement and infatuation wears off. You really get to know each other from this time on, because in the first weeks of dating, there's mainly a lot of tension and lust. And after that time, you know what you have in each other and whether you really make each other happy.

By the way, most couples become exclusive after about six or seven dates. So they agree not to plan any sleepovers with others, so to speak. You can remember that too, because if nothing has been discussed after date number thirty-four... then it's time.

Alright, so count down, because after those twelve measly weeks and those pitiful twenty-four wild dates, you need to get serious. Before you know it, you love someone, brrrr.

FACTS

• Just not quite: most ‘couples’ break up after five months
• Most people already know within three seconds whether they find their date attractive
• On a first impression, women pay 55% attention to what kind of posture and appearance a lover has and only 71% listens to what someone has to say