Have better sex, and improve your mood

Shorter and colder days getting you down? According to the Durex Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey, one of the best ways to put you in a better mood is having a good and fulfilling sex life.

To reap the rewards of this mood-lifting benefit, Durex New Zealand is urging New Zealand couples to take a fresh perspective on the upcoming shortest day of the year, thinking of it instead as the longest night, and a great opportunity for couple time.  The Durex Longest Night on 20 June is designed as the ultimate date night in, with more time than any other night of the year to for couples to stay in and play.

The recent Durex Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey looked at the attitudes and experiences of more than 29,000 people in 36 countries to gain insights into sexual wellbeing. Almost two thirds of respondents report a mood lift as the top benefit of a good sex life.

In fact, a better mood is the number one benefit named by people in South America and North America (69% in each region), as well as in Europe (68%) and Australia and New Zealand (60%).

Following its mood-lifting properties, rounding out the top three benefits of a fulfilling sex life according to New Zealanders are being a better husband / wife / partner (52%) and getting less stressed (51%).

Pim Bolyn, spokesperson for Durex New Zealand, says the results showed that Kiwis were not purely just pleasure-seekers. “The benefits of a great sexual relationship are many-fold, and it’s great to see that Kiwis recognise it’s not just about short-term personal pleasure, but can also improve your overall mood and also your relationship with your partner,” Pim says.

But are our partners any good between the sheets? It looks like a lot of us are performing well, although there is room for improvement.

When it comes to satisfaction, the most satisfied lovers in the world are in South America (72%), slightly ahead of those from Europe (71%), Australasia and North America (both 68%), and Asia (67%).

67% of New Zealanders say they are satisfied with their sex lives. However, this ranks as one of the lower satisfaction rates among the 36 countries surveyed (ranking at 24th).

“Satisfaction levels are lagging behind global statistics here in New Zealand.  The upcoming Durex Longest Night is a great opportunity for couples to try something new and make a date to celebrate their relationship together,” Pim says.

To boost our sex lives and tune our partners in to what we want, we’ve tried a variety of different things. 36% of New Zealanders say they have tried sex toys, the fourth highest response in all countries surveyed.

In addition, 45% of New Zealanders have used lubricants to improve their sexual life, higher than the global average of 33%. However, according to the survey, talking to your partner is still the number one choice for improving your sex life.  44% of Kiwis have tried to improve their sex life this way, in line with 42% globally.

“Couples should try to include talking and closeness in their relationship and perhaps a relaxing and sensuous massage with Durex 2 in 1 Lubricant and Massage Gel to help improve the experience still further for both partners,” Pim says.

The inaugural Durex Longest Night campaign is being launched exclusively in New Zealand, and Pim believes the movement towards increased couple time is likely to catch on. Couples are urged to pledge their participation in the initiative at durexlongestnight.co.nz.

Notes to Editors

The Durex Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey was commissioned by Durex, the world’s number one condom brand, which carries out a range of health promotion initiatives to encourage safer and better sex.

The survey was carried out to gain insights into sexual wellbeing from the general public and was conducted by Harris Interactive among a total of 29,003 adults (aged 18+) online in 35 countries and face to face in Nigeria between 6th September and 3rd October 2011.

The data was weighted where necessary to bring it in line with the population or online population.

The 36 participating countries were Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.

People were questioned on key aspects of their lives: health, general wellbeing, education, beliefs, sex and relationships, attitudes to sex and social circumstances.

In running this survey, Durex, the leading authority on sexual wellbeing with more than 80 years’ experience of developing condoms, lubricants and devices, remains at the forefront in helping people fulfil their sexual aspirations and enjoy better sex.

As a result of the survey Durex has amassed a wealth of data, providing an unprecedented insight into all areas of sexual wellbeing. But rather than revealing all our findings in just one report, Durex will take time looking in-depth at a variety of topics and publish the data over the coming year.

For more information on Durex visit www.durex.com.