Sex therapists agree on how long ‘great sex’ should last

How long should sex last to be considered 'good'?

It's a pretty vague question, to be honest, but it's something we all wonder about now and again. Sexual performance is something that tends to play on the minds of men and women everywhere, whether you think about it once in a blue moon or every minute of the day. We know that the average sex session does last around five minutes, according to research from the University of Queensland. But how long should it be to fall into the 'that was UNREAL' bracket? A group of leading US and Canadian sex therapists, including psychologists, physicians, social workers, marriage therapists and nurses, were asked about the ideal duration of sex in a study. The good news is that great sex can be measured in minutes, rather than hours. The bad news, for some, is the answer wasn't 'one minute'. Sex lasting one to two minutes was collectively considered 'too short' by the experts who belong to the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. If you last between three to seven minutes they deemed this just 'adequate' while anything approaching 30 minutes was considered 'too long' by the therapists. The sweet spot, so to speak, in terms of sexual duration from start to finish was between seven to 13 minutes which was considered 'desirable' by the experts. "A man's or woman's interpretation of his or her sexual functioning as well as the partner's relies on personal beliefs developed in part from society's messages, formal and informal," researchers said, according to the Star. Speaking about the study, lead author Eric Corty, associate professor of psychology, said:

"Unfortunately, today's popular culture has reinforced stereotypes about sexual activity. "Many men and women seem to believe the fantasy model of large penises, rock-hard erections and all-night-long intercourse."Past research has found that a large percentage of men and women who responded wanted sex to last 30 minutes or longer. "This seems a situation ripe for disappointment and dissatisfaction". "With this survey, we hope to dispel such fantasies and encourage men and women with realistic data about acceptable sexual intercourse, thus preventing sexual disappointments and dysfunctions".

This article originally appeared on JOE.co.uk