Womens Sexual Health

Advice for a healthier, happier sex life after 50

While sex is often portrayed as being only for the young, many seniors are still young at heart and feeling amorous these days. Today’s seniors benefit from improved health care, longer lifespan and privacy that their younger counterparts can only dream of. While women’s sexual health can be maintained even beyond the age of 80, there are some adjustments that have to be made as the body ages.

Sex After 50

Both sexes experience similar symptoms in sexual health as they advance in years:

• It takes longer to become aroused
• They have less stamina
• It takes longer to reach sexual satisfaction

These reasons are part of why sexual activity tends to decrease after age 60 in women, with 15 percent indicating a strong decrease in sexual desire. Other reasons include a lack of partners and vaginal dryness due to post-menopause hormonal changes.

Female Sexual Dysfunction

Sexual dysfunction is any problem that interrupts the enjoyment of sexual activity at any time from excitement through to climax. It may be experienced as painful sex or intercourse, low sex drive or as vaginal dryness. Although 43 percent of women report some degree of sexual dysfunction, women 65 and older were most affected.

Treatment for female sexual dysfunction is a detailed process. Symptoms that are expressed physically may have an emotional or interpersonal cause. A person’s sexuality is composed of a combination of cultural and societal expectations along with personal experience. Behavior that is interpreted as bad can cause anxiety and grind the state of sexual excitement to a halt.

Likewise, a fear of intimacy due to abuse in childhood or previous relationships can also account for sexual dysfunction. Psychological treatment is required in these instances; therapy has a 95 percent success rate in helping women eliminate orgasmic dysfunction.

Other causes of female sexual dysfunction include health problems or prescription medications used to treat them. Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, incontinence and emphysema are some of the many illnesses that result in a decreased libido. The loss of sex drive is often compounded by a low self-esteem that women can sometimes develop by blaming themselves for these problems. Antidepressants may also decrease sexual desire; the best way to correct this is to discuss it with your doctor and either switch medications or reduce dosages until a positive result is met.

If sex isn’t enjoyable and none of these causes apply, education may do the trick. Many women never fully experience the pleasures of sex due to a lack of sexual knowledge on the part of themselves or their partner. This can be easily remedied with plenty of books available on the subject.

Ways to Increase Your Libido

• Communicate clearly with your partner about expectations and limitations.
• Touching, hugging and hand-holding as alternatives to sexual intercourse.
• Eat healthy and have regular physical activity.
• Achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
• Reduce alcohol consumption and stop smoking.

Benefits of Sexual Activity

Having sex may take more effort as we age, there are some definite benefits including:

• Burning fat
• Releasing endorphins, which naturally reduce anxiety and act as painkillers
• Slowing the aging process, if experienced three times a week
• Increasing levels of sex hormones, for renewed sexual vigor

While sexual activity is beneficial, it still must be practiced safely. Seniors are just as vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS as anyone else. If having sex with a new partner, use condoms and both should be tested before having unprotected sex as part of a monogamous relationship.