Work on your relationship before infidelity occurs. Here are some techniques.

Let s face it. No relationship is infidelity-proof. To keep a relationship free of affairs requires work and commitment on both parts. But, no matter how committed two people are, their relationship can be susceptible to straying.

Men and women stray for different reasons, but there are some things a couple can do together to minimize those urges and reduce the risk of an outside affair destroying what the couple has built together.

Talk. Talk a lot. New jobs or babies can overwhelm anyone. The less time couples seem to have to talk, the more important talking becomes in the marriage. Affairs often start out when one partner reaches out to someone outside of the marriage, just to talk.

Support. Men and women both hit stages in their lives when they start re-evaluating themselves and their marriages. For men, this stage is often dubbed the mid-life crisis, for women it is a period of uncertainty often falsely associated with menopause. To keep a marriage going strong during these crucial periods, each partner needs to be completely supportive of the other one, no matter how silly some of the needs sound.

Intimacy. In marriages where adultery occurs, the cheater is often looking for a sense of intimacy. Couples can prevent infidelity in their relationship if they commit to maintain the intimacy level in their relationship. Infidelity doesn t occur in relationships where the partners stay connected with each other.

As hard as all of this sounds, it is infinitely easier to take preventative measures and keep your relationship infidelity-free than it is to try and fix things later.