A few years ago while reporting on a senior swim meet, I interviewed a record-setting swimmer who was approaching 70. Let’s call him Bill.
I asked why he still had his full head of gray hair and didn’t shave down before meets, as some competitors did.
“Oh, I don’t do that anymore,” Bill explained, his voice in a conspiratorial whisper. “When the hair grows back after a couple of days, it’s way too scratchy when you’re horsing around.” He further explained a regular sex regimen that a 20-year-old would envy.
SEX and the senior
This story would not surprise doctors and geriatricians who counsel people 65 and older on sexual activity.
“With the baby boomers, clearly sex isn’t going away,” said Dr. Jacqueline Thielen, of the Women’s Health Clinic at the Mayo Clinic.
Bill’s story also isn’t surprising because he embraces exercise, which Thielen and other doctors recommend as a key method for maintaining a rich sex life beyond 65.
“Anything that is good for the heart is good for the penis, because good sex is about good blood flow and feeling good about yourself,” said Vonda Wright, an orthopedic surgeon in the care of older athletes at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Good general health fosters a satisfying sex life. “Studies indicate that sexual health seems to go in tandem with physical health,” said Rani Rao, an internist in geriatrics in the Loyola University Health System.
General health also is important because obesity can impede sexual activity, doctors say. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 30 percent of obese men suffering erectile dysfunction improved function after losing weight.
Diet helps. Along with preventing obesity, a healthy diet helps prevent diabetes by controlling blood sugar. Men with diabetes are three times more likely to have erectile dysfunction, according to a study in the British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease.
Nonetheless, physical fitness cannot completely hold off age’s impact. Age undoubtedly will change sexual performance.
For men, the diminishing amounts of testosterone will reduce sexual desire. For women, lower levels of testosterone will diminish the libido, and drops in estrogen levels lead to vaginal dryness, doctors say.
Pharmaceuticals can limit these changes. Men can take testosterone to boost sex drive, and drugs can overcome certain forms of impotence. For women, lubricants can prevent intercourse from being painful.
Nonetheless, communication is essential for women. “If you’re having sex to go through the physical aspects of having sex, you’re going to miss most women,” Thielen said, “because women can’t separate the physical and emotional parts of lovemaking.”
Ultimately, says Stacy Tessler Lindau, associate professor of obstetrics/gynecology and medicine-geriatrics at the University of Chicago Medical Center, “The loss of sexual function is not a normal change of aging.”
