We often consider that our youth is the right time to feel satisfied with our sex lives. Indeed perhaps it is common to believe that when we are young it is the only time that we are going to feel satisfaction sexually. But this does not necessarily need to be the case in fact there is increasing evidence that a healthy love life is very beneficial to us as we get older and it is something that can be a part of all of our lives. It is even true that a healthy sex life is beneficial to us as we get older and can get us cope better with aging. We only need to look at celebrities such as Jane Fonda and Joan Collins to see examples of women doing this.
Apparently this holds true even as the amount of sex you have decreases. This all comes from a report that was published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society; the researchers looked at 1,235 women between the ages of 60 and 89. One of the major finding from the study was that older women had sex a lot less frequently than younger women – this might not seem like anything especially ground breaking, but what is perhaps more so is the suggestion that older women still reported being at least moderately or very sexually satisfied. It was also true that this had a massive effect on overall quality of life.
“Sexual satisfaction was not significantly associated with age,” according to one of the researchers, Professor Thompson of the University of California San Diego “although the levels of sexual activity and functioning did vary significantly, depending on the woman’s age, their perceived quality of life, successful ageing and sexual satisfaction remained positive.
“What this study tells us is that many older adults retain their ability to enjoy sex well into old age. This is especially true of older adults who maintain a higher level of physical and mental health as they grow older. Furthermore, feeling satisfied with your sex life – whatever your levels of sexual activity – is closely related to your perceived quality of life”
One interesting fact about sexual satisfaction among older people is the fact that sex among older people is still a taboo subject. For a huge number of reasons both younger and older people seem to strongly dislike talking about sex among the older generation. This can lead us to believe that older people never have sex and that therefore they feel that sexual satisfaction must naturally diminish as we get older.
But clearly this is not the case in fact many people as they become more mature with age are more able to have excellent sexual experiences. What’s more, having sex can also have a number of genuine health benefits that can really make a difference for us as we get older. For example it is well known that having sex can reduce stress. Stress can be a real problem as we get older and it is good to relieve it as it is linked with a greater risk in a huge number of illnesses.
Sex is also known for a number of other benefits including the fact that it can improve the health of your heart, help you to get more sleep and even to burn off calories. So clearly we can see that even as we get older sex has a role to play in our lives and even if you are having it less often it does not mean that you cannot get satisfaction from it.