WHAT? GRANDPA AND GRANDMA STILL DO IT?

 

WHAT?  GRANDPA AND GRANDMA STILL DO IT?

   We are all living longer.  What happens to sex when we age?  For every 5 women over 85 there are only 2 men. Sexuality emcompases attitudes, activity, behavior and ability to function.  In other words, having sex means you are healthy.

 SEX AND ILLNESS

   Sexual activity changes as we age and get ill.  Losing a sexual partner, getting older and being in poor health, having an infection, chronic disease, diabetes,  high blood pressure, prostate or urinary problems, such as a sagging bladder or a shrunken vagina, hip or knee replacements, can all decrease sexual desires.  Sex may even be dangerous for persons with a compromised heart or other medical conditions.  Visit our web site www.americanacupuncture.com for more details on intimacy problems.

 SEX LIVES OF OUR SENIORS

    A study by Lindau in the New England Journal of Medicine reviewed the sex life of 3000 men and women.  In the 55-85 year range, 39% of men and 17% of women said they had sex within the last 12 months.  As people got older, women were less likely to have intimate relationships. Half of the sexually active people had sexual problems. Many problems are caused  by chronic medical conditions, and 25% of the aged avoid sex because of them.

    A 1970 study in Baltimore on Aging showed that men, who were very sexually active when younger, had the slowest decline in sexual activity as they aged.  This issue was not addressed in this latest study.

    Testosterone triggers the brain to promote sexual arousal and desires.  The brain center, locus ceruleus, responds to the free testosterone.  With age, vascular blood flow decreases in the erectile smooth muscle of the penis .  

 Grandpa sexier?  Amazingly, after 75, 80% of men and 40% of women still have sex until they are beyond 85.  Men tend to marry or remarry younger women and they take Viagra or Cialis to improve their sex lives.  Many do not have medical clearance.   Ironically, men also die at a younger age than women.

   In women, sexual desires drop because of complex menopausal problems, the end of fertility, decrease in estrogen resulting in shrinking of the vagina and dryness, and increased depression, 

    More women, as they age, find sex unimportant and no longer pleasurable. Unlike men, women don’t talk to their doctors about sex, often because their doctors are much younger than they are.  Only 38% of men and 22% of women ever discuss this problem with their doctor.

 THE PENDULUM HAS SHIFTED

    A good number of older people find sex an important part of staying healthy and keeping their relationships intimate. In the past, older adults kept their mouth shut about sex since younger people assumed they were not and should not be sexually active.  

   Should sex be forgotten, as seniors settle into later life?  Women show a decrease in sexual interest and responsiveness as they age, and they are often less depressed and less worried about such changes. The quality of their relationship with the opposite sex are more important than sex.  Many women find intimacy more rewarding than sex. 

 With Big Pharma targeting Viagra, Cialis, and Testosterone, for grandma and grandpa, more options are available. They want to talk about it.  Who will listen to our aging baby boomers?

What do you think?  NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL MEDICINE, AUG 23, 2007

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