Why December 11 is the most common day for breakups

Christmas time is supposed to be all about love and celebration.

Yet it seems the festive season is also the most common time of the year relationships tend to fall apart.

Breakups are an inevitable part of life, but according to the statistics, there is one particular day that is the worst for relationship breakdowns.

After analysing social media posts detailing break ups, data experts claim December 11 is the most common day for couples to call it quits.

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Research has uncovered December 11 is an acceptable date to break someone's heart as it's "close but not too close" to Christmas.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Christmas time forces some couples to reflect on the year and realise their issues still haven't been resolved.

"I think as the year ends, couples break up because they assume the underlying issues they had in their relationship would have been fixed by now and they dread carrying the same issues into a new year," dating expert Renee Slansky told the publication.

"We tend to use this time of the year to reflect and ask ourselves what we really want and what's not working out and then make decisions to either continue or end."

Psychologist Marny Lishman also offered insight into why December 11 has been dubbed "breakup day", explaining the busy time of year puts a lot of pressure on couples.

"In many cases people can become quite overwhelmed, which can lead to feelings of stress," Lishman told the newspaper.

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"And when people are stressed, they can become disconnected, irritable, and unhappy."

The stress of gift-giving can also cause relationships to implode in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Dr Dorree Lynn told ABC News spending Christmas together is an "intimate" experience for couples, and those who won't go the distance tend to realise this around December 11.

"If you're not sure, particularly if you haven't been dating for several years, a lot of people have issues about gift-giving and how intimate the gift-giving is," Lynn explained.

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"They get frightened because they don't want to put pressure on the other person, but on the other hand they don't want to feel like a fool giving something and not getting anything back."

A UK survey also found most people believe the last acceptable day before Christmas to initiate a break up is December 6.

Other than this date, couples have found the next optimal time to split up is mid-March.

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