How long should sexual intercourse last – the view of a sexologist

To give the answer to the question about the duration of a sex act, we need first to determine what we, actually, call “sexual intercourse”. Should we include the foreplay here? Or only the frictions period?

In case sexual activity is taken on the whole – from the moment you’ve touched your partner to the culmination – it may last anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes or even longer. It strongly depends on male’s durability in bed and the preferences concerning the foreplay.Some couples pay much attention to it, whereas the others almost omit it giving each other only a couple of kisses.

the duration of sexual intercourse

A 2010 survey of sexual intercourse desired duration among the Japanese married couples revealed that the average time needed to get satisfaction from intercourse varies. However, the median time needed for the female partners was 15 minutes.

It has also been mentioned that the duration of intercourse was mainly regulated by the women’s wish (of course if there are no problems of premature ejaculation in male partners).

Common duration of sexual intercourse

There’s no one definite time, which is considered “normal” for sexual activity. Nevertheless, there are different figures estimating what time is too short, and what is too long.

Insufficient duration of intercourse, which is caused by early ejaculation, is tied to 90 seconds. Some doctors consider intercourse too short if it lasts for about 2 minutes. Anyway, it doesn’t give satisfaction either to a woman or to a man.

According to the results of several studies, the usual duration of sexual activity is between 5.6 and 7.4 minutes. But keep in mind that it is only the time of active frictions that end with ejaculation. No foreplay included.

Knowing what is too little and what is an average, we can now proceed to what is considered too long. Delayed ejaculation affects about 20-30% of males at some period in their lives. These men need more than 30 minutes of penetrative sex to ejaculate.

The duration of sexual activity is highly individual. Someone is absolutely satisfied with a 5-minute sexual adventure. The others need much more time to reach the peak. Anyway, the main thing here is that you need to feel satisfied after the intercourse.