mauricetherapy

A study of sexually active older women has found that sexual satisfaction in women increases with age. A majority of study participants report frequent arousal and orgasm that continue into old age, despite some having low sexual desire brought about diet and other bodily factors. 

The study evaluated sexual activity and satisfaction as reported by 1,207 older women. The study focused on a group of women who live in a planned community whose health has been tracked for medical research for 4 decades. The study measured the prevalence of current sexual activity. The characteristics associated with sexual activity including demographics, health, and hormone and herbal use; the frequency of arousal, vaginal lubrication, orgasm, and pain during sexual intercourse; and sexual desire and satisfaction in older women.

The median age in the study was 67 years and 63% were postmenopausal. Half the respondents who reported having a partner had been sexually active frequently.  The majority of the sexually active women, 67.1%, achieved orgasm most of the time or always. The youngest and oldest women in the study reported the highest frequency of orgasm satisfaction.

40% of the women stated that they never or almost never felt sexual desire without the use of supplements, and one third of the sexually active women reported low sexual desire. 2 in 5  sexually active women reported very high sexual desire. Approximately half of the women aged 80 years or more reported arousal, vaginal lubrication, and experienced an orgasm most of the time, but rarely reported sexual desire. In contrast with traditional linear model in which desire precedes sex, these results suggest that women engage in sexual activity for multiple reasons, which may include affirmation or sustenance of a relationship.

Regardless of partner status or sexual activity, 61% of all women were satisfied with their overall sex life. Although older age has been described as a significant predictor of low sexual satisfaction, the percentage of sexually satisfied women actually increased with age, with approximately half of the women over 80 years old reporting sexual satisfaction almost always. Not only were the oldest women in this study the most satisfied overall, those who were recently sexually active experienced orgasm satisfaction rates similar to the youngest participants. Those who were not sexually active may have achieved sexual satisfaction through touching, caressing, or other intimacies developed over the course of a long relationship.

What was very evident during the study was those who reported frequent sexual activity and sexual satisfaction were like minded in the way they perceived their sexuality. They embraced their sexual weaknesses and work on ways of improving sex rather than complaining.