Many people assume their twenties is when they should be having the most mindblowing, adventurous sex of their lives. With fewer responsibilities and often no kids to look after, they’re some of our most carefree years. But if the reality of your sex life doesn’t quite match up to this ideal, don’t fret – the most fulfilling, sexiest sex of your life could still be to come, a new study suggests. Thank god for that.
Women actually have the best sex of their lives at age 36 and above, according to a survey of more than 2,600 women, commissioned by natural contraception app Natural Cycles.
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Women were quizzed about their experience of orgasms, how attractive they felt and their enjoyment of sex. Their responses were then broken down into three age groups – under 23s, those aged 23-35 and those ages 36 and over.
Women over 36 reported having the best sex – 86% said they’d had enjoyable sex in the last four weeks, compared with 76% of the middle group and 56% of the youngest group. (Another recent survey of women aged 30 to 80 suggested it could get even better once women hit middle age, as it was the youngest group, 30 to 44-year-olds, that reported having the least satisfying sex.)
The older group was generally a lot happier with themselves, likely making it easier for them to enjoy sex. They were the most confident in their own skin, with 80% saying they felt sexy. By contrast, just 40% of the middle group felt attractive and 70% of the under 23s said the same.
Orgasms were also better and more frequent for those over 36, with nearly 60% saying they had the most enjoyable and greatest number of orgasms, compared with half of the women in the other age groups.
When asked how often they had sex, just under a third did the deed twice a week, just over a fifth did it three times a week and under a fifth had sex once a week.
The women were also asked how long they thought sex should last. A third wanted it to last longer, while a tenth felt it should be over quicker. (A recent survey suggested the average British couple's sex session lasts just 19 minutes.)
Hey, even if we never end up owning our homes, holding down stable employment or having any savings, at least we've got some decent sex to look forward to.