The biological clock’s positive affect on your sex life

Good news for women between the ages of 30 and 40, that stressful chunk of time in a woman’s life in which she feels the pressure to advance in her career, get married and/or have children—and all at once. 

According to a 2010 paper (via Time.com) published in the journal of Personality and Individual Differences, women in their 30s and 40s not only have more sex than women in their 20s (take that fresh-faced undergrads!) they report more frequent and intense sexual fantasies (double whammy!).  

The study by psychologist David Buss at the University of Texas and a group of graduate students attempted to answer the question as to how evolution affects women’s sexuality, if at all. To get to the bottom of the question, they surveyed more than 800 women between the ages of 18 and 46, asking them to elaborate on their sexual thoughts, fantasies, and behaviours. 

After analyzing the responses, they discovered that the women in the 27- to 45-year-old age group reported more sex than the women in the 18- to 26-year-old range and the 46-years-old and up group. 

In addition, they found that women in their 30s and 40s appeared more willing to engage in casual sexual relationships and/or one-night stands. 

Why are women in their 30s and 40s randier than their twenty-something counterparts, generally? From an evolutionary perspective, it may be the happy result of a woman’s biological urge to reproduce merging with the winding down of her biological clock. Women in their 30s and 40s may be feeling every tick-tock of their biological clock as it counts down the remaining years of fertility, which in turn affects their sexual behaviour. 

It’s an interesting theory for women to consider—if not enjoy. But as Time.com writer John Cloud points out, there are others who see the results differently, arguing that the increase in sexual behaviour may have something to do with experience, i.e., women in their 30s and 40s are more comfortable with sex than women in their early 20s.