Men Last the Longest in Bed at This Age, According to a New Survey
Men have been handed some ridiculous ideas about how long sex is supposed to last. Movies haven’t helped. Porn definitely hasn’t helped. Because of these societal pressures, many guys end up assuming anything short of an Olympic event means they’re doing something wrong.
The actual numbers are much less punishing.
A 2025 Lovehoney survey looked at average session length across six age groups. The longest average was among men in their late 20s and early 30s, then gradually declined with age. For some context, a 2008 study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine asked sex therapists what they considered a desirable length for intercourse. Their answer was seven to 13 minutes.
Most of these averages are longer than that.
Men in the youngest group averaged 16.14 minutes, but there was a lot going on underneath that number. Five percent reported lasting less than two minutes. Another 5% said they went for more than an hour.
That’s a pretty huge range to squeeze into one average.
This group had the longest average at 18.29 minutes.
Sarah Mulindwa, a sexual health nurse and sex expert at Lovehoney, told Metro that sex can feel smoother at this age because people have more experience, a better sense of rhythm, and stronger communication. Stress and a lack of time can still cut things short, because adulthood remains committed to ruining everybody’s plans.
The average dipped slightly to 17.4 minutes, so we’re still in around the same neighborhood.
Carol Queen, Ph.D., staff sexologist at Good Vibrations, told Giddy that some people actually prefer sex in their 40s because they know what they like and are better at communicating it. A couple fewer minutes doesn’t necessarily say much about whether the sex is better or worse.
Here, the average dropped to 14.14 minutes. One in four men in this age group reported lasting six to 10 minutes.
Hormonal changes and changes in erectile function become more common with age, so timing can change too. A shorter session here isn’t unusual. Your body at 50 isn’t going to perform like it did at 25. It’s a bummer, but true.
Arousal can take longer, recovery takes longer, and medications or health conditions can start affecting sexual response. By this point, though, people have also had decades to figure out what they like, what they don’t, and what is absolutely not worth pretending to enjoy anymore.
Men 65 and older averaged 8.15 minutes, with six to 10 minutes as the most common answer at 28%.
One percent still reported going for more than an hour, so somebody out there is refusing retirement. Age can bring lower penile sensitivity and longer refractory periods, but by this point, people also have a lot more experience than they did at 22.
These numbers aren’t goals. They’re averages from one survey, and there’s a huge amount of variation inside every age group. Sex changes as bodies age, and seven minutes was already considered perfectly desirable by sex therapists years ago. That should hopefully take some pressure off.
