Sex and Aging: A New Survey

I was interested to see the recent report in the August 23, 2007, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine suggesting that sexual relations often accompany healthy aging. This research should be reassuring news, since none of us is getting any younger.

I like to emphasize that mental health goes far beyond the absence of mental disorders. Thus, sexuality is one realm of our lives that may reflect aspects of mental well-being and satisfaction within healthy relationships.

It is, however, a behavioral domain that can also be associated with disorders. There are specific sexual disorders, and our sexual experiences can be influenced by mood, anxiety, and many other factors.

Like most people, I don't really want to know the details about my parents' sexual activities; however, I am aware that they remained sexually active for most of their 61 years of marriage. The NEJM article by Dr. Stacy Tessler Lindau from the University of Chicago and her colleagues shows that my parents were not unusual.

The researchers presented data on the prevalence of sexual activity, behaviors, and problems in a general population sample of over 3,000 U.S. adults ages 57 to 85 years. The percentages of individuals in different age categories reporting that they remained sexually active were as follows:

73% – Ages 57 to 64 years
53% – Ages 65 to 74 years
26% – Ages 75 to 85 years

About half of men and women reported at least one bothersome sexual problem. Most common among men was erectile dysfunction and for women low desire, problems with vaginal lubrication, and inability to climax.

The authors concluded that "the majority of older adults are engaged in spousal or other intimate relationships and regard sexuality as an important part of life," and that "a substantial number of men and women engage in vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and masturbation even in the eighth and ninth decades of life."