How long should sex normally last? Science has finally given us the answer

What is normal when it comes to the duration of sex? Sadly, it's not 90 seconds, including half-time oranges.

Everyone just assumes that longer is better, but it is? Is it really? If nothing else, just think of all that chafing. And who wants to end up with a painful stitch when you're deep into extra time? What if you've not got your inhaler handy? It's an absolute minefield. Thankfully, clever clogs at the University of Queensland in Australia have conducted some vital research into the average length of coitus, so that you don't feel the need to pound away unnecessarily whilst your other half just wants to focus on the Netflix bit of "Netflix and chill". Psychologist Dr Brendan Zietsch studied 500 couples from around the world over a four-month period (and we don't mean on PornHub), and came up with some very interesting findings. Apparently love-making lasted between 33 seconds (it takes that long to find your bearings, surely) and a whopping 44 minutes (presumably that includes the commute there and back). But the average duration was a very satisfying five minutes. That's right - the median across all the volunteer shaggers was 5.4 minutes to be exact. It's what Dr Zietsch rather romantically calls the "intravaginal ejaculation latency time". We love it when he talks dirty like that.