FEATURE: Old Folks Still Getting It On!
Written by Kathryn Savage
A regular sex life is not the first thing I associate with grandma. But studies suggest that old timers are getting their freak on, and that getting it on may improve overall health.
A national survey distributed to American between the ages of 57 and 85 asked about attitudes toward sex, sexual behaviors, and intimacy problems. It indicates that many people well into their seventies and eighties are doing the horizontal shuffle. And then some!
The study indicates that not only are our grandparents getting it on, they think of sexuality as an integral part of life. If would appear that, despite popular assumption, sexual activity does not slow down much from the 50s to the 70s.
The report, conducted by the University of Chicago’s National Social Life, Heath and Aging Project and presented in the August 23, 2007, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, and also released on the website Science Daily, asked a range of questions that seem to determine that "many men and women remain sexually active – participating in vaginal intercourse, oral sex and masturbation – well into their 70s and 80s."
The survey also found that sexual activity appears to be closely tied to overall health.
Dr. Richard Suzman, PhD, says, "Social relationships are known to contribute to health and well-being in older men and women ... This pioneering research gives us valuable insight into intimate social relationships, providing data clinicians may now draw upon to open better informed conversations with patients about sexuality and health."
The main health concern facing older adults, according to the study, was not a lack of desire for intimacy, but rather, bothersome physiological symptoms that prevented sex from feeling good for women, or um, being possible for guys. We live in the era of Viagra, so I don't need to spell this out.
Americans spend more than a billion dollars a year on medications to get up to get down, so to speak. What I find to be so fascinating is that despite these "problems", the taboo surrounding sex may be one reasons the study indicates many older adults who have problems with sexual function after the age of 50 don’t talk about it with their physician. Yet, in spite of this hush-hush finding, more than 75 percent of the adults approached to participate in this study agreed to take part.
Among the participants, those who experienced worsening health, even if they didn't seek council from their doctors, still found a way to get intimate.
Oral sex? About 50 percent of participants under 75 acknowledged partaking, and "half of men and a quarter of women, whether they had a sexual partner or not, acknowledged masturbating."
If couples were not engaging in sexual activity, it was usually caused by deteriorating health in the male partner.
The study also revealed that women who were not in a relationship were less likely to express interest in sex then men who were not in a relationship.
The researchers hope their findings can help older adults who are experiencing health problems that are affecting their sex life by encouraging them to communicate with their doctors and get help. The positive effects of engaging in sex don’t go away with age. If anything, it appears a healthy sex life may lower mortality rates, and enhance intimacy in older adults.
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