Sex Bulletin

Shape up for sex

Striking out at the nightclub? Join a running club. When it comes to choosing a man, women with athletic builds are less superficial than those with curvaceous figures, say Polish scientists. After a detailed survey, they determined that the broader a woman's hips were relative to her waist, the more importance she placed on a man's looks. "Curvier women have more oestrogen and a greater maternal urge to find a partner who looks like he'll produce strong babies and provide for a family," says the study author, Dr Boguslaw Pawlowski, PhD.

Scent science

Pass on the horse-drawn carriage ride. Stinky air makes you less attractive, say Northwest University scientists. Women exposed to a faint foul odour rated faces as less likeable than they did when in fresh air. Turns out, when women detect a stench, they associate it with the face of the person they're with. The good news: a waft of citrus spikes likeability. So spritz on a fruit-laced cologne.

Best sex in minutes

Those who talk of being capable of long and hard sex are probably lying. The best sex lasts a few minutes and not hours, says a Penn State University survey in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. In fact, what most people describe as satisfactory sex usually lasts anywhere between three and 13 minutes. The survey group described 3-7 minutes of the act (from penetration until ejaculation) as adequate, 7-13 minutes as desirable, 1-2 minutes as too short and 10-30 minutes as too long.

SIGNS (Understand the chemistry)

Iron deficiency

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts had men and women perform two sets of 25 arm curls. They found that women experience more symptoms of muscle damage immediately after lifting weights. This inhibits muscle growth, which is one reason men have an easier time bulking up.

Blues clues

Norwegian scientists have found that men don't become depressed as a result of low levels of serotonin. When the researchers temporarily turned off serotonin production in healthy adults, they found that women became depressed but men became impulsive.

Percentage who were physically aroused:

Fellatio: 63%
Doggy style: 42%
Back-door entrance: 38%
Manual stimulation: 29%
Cunnilingus: 17%

Find out her secrets

Women dismiss the idea of some bedroom antics, but then there's also the X-rated reality. A Wayne State study notes that when women watched these sex acts (see right), their brains said "nah" but their bodies said "whoa!"
Fact of life 19 - percentage of Indians who wished they had sex more often.

Source: Durex 2005 Global Sex Survey