Sex in the Golden Years –
A Guide to the Best Senior Sex Possible
As we get older, one question that we all ask ourselves is whether we’ll still be “doing it” with our partners into retirement. Sure, we all laugh (or shudder) at the thought of our parents getting it on, but you don’t ever think twice about your physical relationships now that you’re the same age as your parents were when you were getting grossed out at the thought of them even kissing, let alone knocking uglies.
So maybe it’s time to take a look at a study published in the American Journal of Medicine entitled SEXUAL ACTIVITY AND SATISFACTION IN HEALTHY COMMUNITY-DWELLING OLDER WOMEN to see whether that older demographic is satisfied with their sex lives.
Over 1300 women, aged 40 and older, were asked questions about their recent sexual activity in the past four weeks.
To give you a better idea about the age range of the women who responded:
- The median age was 67 years old
- The women were grouped into the following categories: those under 55, those 55-68, those 68-79, and 79+
While not all women who participated in the survey had any sexual contact during the most recent month that the researchers were inquiring about, they did find the following:
- Just 3% said that they felt sexual desire almost always or always, compared to the almost 40% who said that the never or almost never did.
- Of those women who were sexually active, 24% were “moderately satisfied” and 54% were “very satisfied” with the emotional closeness they felt with their partner while having sex
- The youngest age group was less likely to list “very satisfied” with their sexual relationship, at just 33.5%.
- 67% achieved orgasm most, or almost all times. While it should come as no surprise that the youngest age group reached orgasm most often (47.6%), the oldest group also stated this was true for them (37.5%).
Part of the conclusions that the researchers drew was that while just 20% of the women surveyed felt sexual desire, 61% were satisfied with their sex lives.
In other words, while the sex itself may be less satisfying physically, worrying about whether it is or not becomes less of a concern as women get older as the women focus more on the relationship they have with their partners.