Sex Persists Into the Life of the Elderly

We have all heard that men reach their sexual peak at 18 and women at 28- so what does that mean for people in their 70’s and 80’s?

Sexuality and ageing is often treated with tremendous sentimentality or derisive humor. Sometimes it is difficult for people to conceive of sex drive and passion among elderly except in terms of lechery, but these views are receding. Sex and ageing is an issue of popular media discussion because with changing diet patterns and medical treatments, many people in their senior years are healthy and desirous of an active life including sex.

Getting old does not mean saying so long to sex. A Swedish survey reported that 70 year olds of both sexes are having more sex than they did when they were 30. Reports of the University of Chicago demonstrated that of the 3,000 American men and women in the age bracket of 75-85, 3/4, were still sexually active.

A non existent sex life should serve as a warning sign. Reasons for losing interest in sex may be plentiful. It’s driven by physical and mental health problems and smoking too much. Medication can depress sexual urges. Age, is not a major factor, sex life can be suppressed for lack of a partner. Most 70 year old men and women have outlived or are separated from their spouses. If a relationship is in trouble it can snuff out the couple’s sex life.

“Anxiety is a very big factor (in sexual dysfunction) for women and depressiondefine is in men, and men can become very depressed because of dysfunction” said socialist Edward Laumann. Erectile dysfunction increases from 31% among men aged 57-64 to more than 40% in older men. Nearly 14% had tried erectile dysfunction drugs.

Laumann and his team, found that pain during sex and inability to reach orgasm, at the approach of middle age, curbed the sexual drive, but as the person grew older this reached a plateau, giving way to a normal sex life.

A substantial number of older men and women continue to engage in sex activity. “Sex among older adults is the last taboo in the US,” said Dr. Virginia Sadock, professor of Psychiatry at New York University