Scientists call it: What is the mean intravaginal ejaculation latency time? Yup, it can’t get more unsexy than this. Anyways, I’m sure everybody has asked this question oneself at least once. Now you can get your answer.

Obviously there are a lot of issues when it comes to actually figuring out the average amount of time spent in one session of sex. When does the clock technically start? Is foreplay included?

Also, measuring the time is an awkward matter, as counting out-loud in the sack could possibly ruin the mood.

The actual awkward research didn’t have people counting the seconds, but rather setting a stopwatch. A group of scientists from the Netherlands actually got 500 couples from all over the world to agree to time themselves having sex for 4 weeks. They literally pressed “start” when the vagina was entered and “stop” when it was all said and done.

What did they find? Basically, the times were all over the board. The average time for each couple (averaged across all the times they had sex) ranged from 33 seconds to 44 minutes. That, folks, is an 80-fold difference.

Obviously this means that there isn’t in fact a “normal” amount of time to have sex. The median across all couples, however was 5.4 minutes. All this means is that when you line up the 500 couples from shortest sex to longest sex, the middle couple has an average time-count of 5.4 minutes each time they do it.

The scientists also found that condom use doesn’t affect the time, and neither does circumcision. This challenges the age-old wisdom that penile sensitivity impacts how long the sex will last.

Where the couples lived didn’t really matter either, unless they were from Turkey. Their sex seemed to be a lot shorter than couples from other places, clocking in at 3.7 minutes.

Another surprise was that the older the couple, the shorter time spent getting it on.

So the next time you feel inadequate because of however long (or short) the sex was, just remember: it really does happen to everyone.