A satisfying sex life is an important factor in personal happiness – whether you are 25 or 75. But too often midlifers feel that their happiest days are behind them. Many midlife women in particular worry that the loss of estrogen at menopause will shut down their libido.
In fact, in studies I looked at for The Menopause Book, one of the most common reasons that midlife women failed to have a satisfying sex life was lack of a partner. In other words, the will was still there. They just had to find a way.
Now, a new study using data from the Women's Health Initiative (the massive federally sponsored study of hormone therapy among other things) has found that older women are generally pretty satisfied with their sexual health.
Published in the journal Menopause, the review of data from more than 27,000 women from age 50 to 79 found that 60 percent of women in their 50s were sexually active, along with almost 50 percent of women in their 60s and more than a quarter of women in their 70s.
Two-thirds of women said they were satisfied with their sex life and the majority of those who were dissatisfied said they would prefer to have more sex.
It's more evidence that getting older doesn't mean you have to fade away.