And yes, that goes for the bedroom and the classroom.
A survey published in the August issue of Academic Medicine polled 2,261 medical students in an effort to determine just how confident they were in sex chatter with patients.
The results offer a glimpse into the high-stress academic lifestyle at medical schools across the country -- and suggest that med students might need to get a little bit freakier to offer applicable assistance to future patients.
Sex Life? What Sex Life?
Well, not quite. But the study did conclude that the sex lives of med school students are somewhat less robust than those of their peers -- not to mention less satisfying.
Eighty-six percent of men and 87 percent of women surveyed had been sexually active at least once -- kicking things off at an average age of 19.
Nationally, the average age of first intercourse is 17.
Sexually active women and men reported having sex five or six times a month, respectively.
Compare that to data on average Americans, compiled by the Kinsey Institute. Most notably, Americans aged 18 to 29 report having sex around 10 times a month.
And more med students, male and female, are coping with sexual challenges -- erectile dysfunction or lack of interest or pleasure -- than the rest of the American population.
Fourteen percent of male respondents suffered from erectile dysfunction, and 23 percent characterized their risk of premature ejaculation as "high."
By comparison, erectile dysfunction afflicts only 5 percent of American men aged 20 to 40.
Women had it even worse. Forty-nine percent reported a high risk of female sexual dysfunction, and 73 percent of those in a sexual relationship complained that tiredness interfered with their desire to get it on.
Impotent Sex Ed
More than half the students surveyed reported an inadequate sexual-education curriculum in the classroom -- and their impotent sex ed was the most important factor associated with discomfort in addressing sexuality with patients.
That students are dissatisfied with sex ed shouldn't be surprising, given that the majority of U.S and Canadian med schools offer between three and 10 hours of training in matters of sexual medicine.
"Our data speak to the need for the development of a medical school sexual health curriculum," the study reads, "[that] provides students with the necessary skills to address sexuality in a broad clinical context, perhaps even outside their comfort zone."
And Consider the Survey Sample
The survey's results, though better than previous studies, don't exactly inspire confidence in frank chitchats on condom size or STD tests with one's GP.
But, the study's authors warn, medical offices across the country might be even more frigid than their findings suggest.
"Greater comfort with sexuality and more sexual experience among responders compared to nonresponders is a common problem in sexuality research," they write, "and this phenomenon would bias our results towards overestimating the sexual experiences and comfort of medical students."
