Men think about sex more than women do, but less often than a certain stereotype might lead you to expect, according to a new study. One oft-cited bit of folk wisdom about male randiness says men think of sex every seven seconds.
Men also think about other biological functions more often than women, it found.
The study had 283 students carry tally counters designed for golfers around for a week. Some clicked every time they had an erotic thought, others when they pondered eating, still others when sleep crossed their minds.
When the clicks were counted, men had thought about sex a grand total of 34 times daily, on average, versus 19 for women. (The range of the number of daily sex thoughts was also wider for men: one to a formidable 388, as compared with one to 140).
The sex difference for sleep and eating “cognitions” was of the same magnitude — 25 daily food thoughts for men, 15 for women; 29 sleep thoughts for men, 13 for women.
The study was designed, in part, to improve upon one from 1990, in which men or women carried around a form and tracked their sexual thoughts. The authors of the new study say that some people might have been embarrassed to record thoughts on this topic, in that format.
Stay up-to-date on the biggest health and wellness news with our weekly recap.