Dr. Ruth Westheimer said millennials should stop hooking up and put away the phones

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the beloved 90-year-old sex expert and Holocaust survivor, shared her wisdom on relationships, sex and a happy life Thursday during a visit to Dallas.

Westheimer spoke at a fundraiser for the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, sharing her life story — from fleeing Nazi Germany when she was a little girl, to working as a sniper, to her decades-long career focusing on sex psychology.

Here are a few of the lessons she taught the Dallas audience at Congregation Shearith Israel:

1. A good childhood can have a big impact on the future

Westheimer’s childhood changed dramatically at age 10, when she was sent on Kindertransport to a Swiss orphanage before World War II broke out. Her family all died in the Holocaust, she would learn later.

But before that, she said, she had a “wonderful, wonderful life,” complete with 10 dolls, roller skates, and a mother, father and grandmother who loved her.

She said she did a follow-up study for her master’s thesis about 50 people who fled Germany with her as children. She said all of them, because of their early socialization, overcame the trauma of becoming orphans.

“They didn't become Dr. Ruth, but they made it,” she said, drawing plenty of laughs.

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2. She’s worried about one-night stands and STDs

Westheimer is worried that a rise in sexually transmitted diseases may be related to more people having one-night stands, she said at Thursday night’s event. She predicted that we’d see a rise in cases of AIDS, gonorrhea and syphilis as "hookup" culture becomes more common.

“People say, ‘Stop talking about that. We're going to hook up for one night just to have good sex,’” she said. “Big problem.”

3. We’re losing the 'art of conversation'

Westheimer is also worried about loneliness. Westheimer, who's written a new edition of Sex for Dummies aimed at millennials that will drop in August, said a solid, healthy relationship has to be the foundation of any good sexual relationship.

She fears that we’re losing our ability to talk to each other.

“The art of conversation is getting lost,” she said. “You walk into a restaurant, you see families, everybody's on their phone. It's becoming an obsession, as if the world is going to end if that phone is not open next to them.”

When Jane McGarry, who moderated the talk and co-hosts WFAA-TV's Good Morning Texas, asked Westheimer the secret to better relationships, Westheimer said she couldn't answer that.

“I can only say we have to be concerned that young people are having one-night stands instead of developing a relationship,” she said.

4. Her ‘joie de vivre’ could have something to do with sleeping in

Even at 90, Westheimer said she can still dance the night away.

"If I find a good dancer!” she added.

And up until a few years ago, she was a Black Diamond skier, she said.

McGarry asked Westheimer what keeps her so full of life.

“First of all, I love what I’m doing,” Westheimer said.

She said she loves a room full of people listening to her speak, and she particularly loved the three standing ovations she got from a crowd of about 1,000 people at a showing of her soon-to-be-released documentary, Ask Dr. Ruth. (It'll debut May 3 in theaters and arrive on Hulu a few weeks later.)

And there are other perks to being Dr. Ruth, she said. Westheimer doesn’t allow anyone to call her before 10 a.m., because she’s out every night.

“I tell you one thing,” she said. “My late husband, who comes out really beautifully portrayed in the documentary, the poor guy never had a breakfast that I made.”

5. The secret to a lifetime of good sex

Westheimer shared a key piece of advice for the Dallas audience: the secret to a lifetime of good sex.

It's pretty simple, according to Dr. Ruth.

"I'll tell you a secret," she told McGarry.

“Anyone who is going to contribute to that wonderful museum which I visited today and who is standing up for justice,” Westheimer said, “I promise that they'll have good sex for the rest of their life!”

With that in mind, the new Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum will have a grand opening ceremony Sept. 17 at its new location at 300 N. Houston St. It'll be open to the public Sept. 18.

Its current museum, at 211 N. Record St., will stay open during construction of the new museum, which will be 55,000 square feet — five times its current size.