This belief is so pervasive that even some medical professionals have suggested that their full-term patients should give it a try. But not only does having sex near your due date not induce labour, but in some cases, it may actually delay it.

Researchers found that women who were sexually active in the final three weeks of their pregnancies carried their babies for an average of 39.9 weeks, compared to 39.3 weeks for women who weren’t having any sex. If you’re expecting and unsure, always work closely with your care provider.

There may be no difference in the time it takes men and women to reach peak arousal

Another common myth is that women take longer to get turned on than men. It turns out that there may be no difference in the time it takes men and women to reach peak arousal. Researchers used thermal imaging to measure blood flow to the genitals in a group of 28 men and 30 women who viewed videos that were either neutral, humorous, or erotic.

They found that arousal time, as measured by the time to peak genital temperature after viewing the sexually arousing video, was the same in both groups.