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Men and women in their early seventies are having sex more often and enjoying it more than their counterparts three and four decades ago, according to a Swedish study published Wednesday.

Septuagenarian women in particular expressed satisfaction with their amorous activities, suggesting they may have benefited more from the loosening of sexual mores.

Despite an array of literature on the sexual habits and attitudes of younger adults, very little is known about what happens between the sheets for healthy men and women aged 70 and older.

Previous research has tended to focus on what goes wrong, sexually speaking, which has created the impression that the sex life of older people is dismal or non-existent.

Not true, according to Nils Beckman, a doctoral candidate at the University of Gothenburg.

“Our study shows that most elderly people consider sexual activity and associated feelings a natural part of later life,” he said.

Compared to the same age group in 1971, nearly twice as many married female septegenarians reported having sexual intercourse in 2001, and a sharply higher percentage said they “always or usually” experienced orgasms, noted the study.

And while more than 10 percent of women interviewed 40 years ago had never had sex at all, by century’s end that percentage had dropped to 0.4 percent — a single respondent out of 229.

For men, too, sex at 70 on the cusp of the 21st century seemed to bring more pleasure than for older men of a previous generation.

But the news was not totally good: more men in 2001 also complained of low or no satisfaction, perhaps reflecting a cultural shift in openness in talking about sex.

And while the number of men reporting erectile dysfunction dropped, a higher number of men said they had ejaculation problems. The rate of premature ejaculation did not change.

Beckman and colleagues studied attitudes towards sex in later life based on interviews with Swedish 70-year-olds at four different points in time: 1972, 1977, 1993 and 2001.

The study is published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

“The implication is that a generation’s sexual change — perhaps linked to the sexual revolution of 1965-75 — is evident in this latest cohort of 70-year-olds,” Peggy Kleinplatz, a professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada, wrote in a commentary, also in the BMJ.

More over 70s ‘are enjoying sex’

More couples over 70 are having sex - and finding it satisfying - than in previous generations, a British Medical Journal survey suggests.

Swedish researchers asked 1,500 older people across a 30-year period about their sex lives.

The number of people saying they had sex increased - as did the number of women reporting having orgasms.

A UK expert said the older people of today grew up in more sexually liberated eras.

Although there are plenty of studies about sexual “problems” associated with old age, there is relatively little research about “normal” sexual behaviour later in life.

The scientists from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden interviewed 70-year-olds in 1971-2, 1976-7, 1992-3 and 2000-2001.

They found that the number of 70-year-olds reporting sexual intercourse rose in men and women, married and unmarried.

More than two-thirds - 68% - of married men in the most recent survey said they had sex, an increase from 52%, while the percentage of married women having sex rose from 38% to 56%.

The number of men reporting physical problems, such as erectile dysfunction or ejaculation dysfunction increased.

The number of women who said they were highly satisfied with their sex lives rose too.

When sexual intercourse stopped, both men and women tended to blame men, in line with the findings from earlier surveys.

Professor Peggy Kleinplatz, from the University of Ottawa, said that doctors should now be trained to ask all patients - regardless of their age - about any sexual concerns.

She said: “Sex is an important and positive part of the lives of their 70-year-old participants, and more so for the current cohort of men and women than for their predecessors in 1971.”

Sexual stereotype

Dr Petra Boynton, a specialist in the psychology of sex and relationships at University College London, said it was important to remember that someone turning 70 in the year 2000 would have been influenced by the more free sexual attitudes of the 1960s and 1970s - and also perhaps fitter and healthier than those in their 70s in previous decades.

She said: “We still have this stereotype of elderly people with their bath chairs and canes, staggering around, who couldn’t possibly be having sex - but that isn’t the case.”

She pointed out that the study did not record the frequency of sex for any of those surveyed, simply whether they were having sex at all, and focused on penetrative sex, rather than other types of sex which might be favoured by older people.

“I am slightly concerned that this will be interpreted in a way that suggests that if you’re not having sex in your 70s, you are doing something wrong.

“There are still plenty of people who choose not to have sex.”

Meanwhile, a report by Finnish researchers says older men who have more sex will experience fewer erection problems.

A five-year study, published in the American Journal of Medicine, of 989 men aged 55-75 in Pirkanmaa, Finland, showed that having sexual intercourse less than once per week doubled the risk of erectile dysfunction, compared to having sex once per week.

The new sexual revolution

Over-70s are having more sex than ever – but more women than men are enjoying it

When the actress Sophia Loren asked her grandmother Luisa when she lost interest in sex, the 80-year-old is said to have replied: “I don’t know, dear, you will have to ask someone older than me.”

Today, she would not be alone. The over-seventies are having better sex, and more of it, than ever before, a study has found. The Viagra generation is continuing to enjoy sexual intimacy in a way denied to their forebears.

Those who were in their thirties during the sexual revolution of the 1960s still retain a liberal attitude to sex four decades later. But while male performance has improved, it is women who are reaping the benefits. Women in the age group report being particularly satisfied with their sex lives, while men report declining satisfaction.
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Swedish researchers surveyed attitudes to sex among the older generation in four separate surveys conducted over 30 years, from 1971 to 2001. They interviewed 1,500 people aged over 70 about their sex lives, including their sexual activity, marital satisfaction and sexual dysfunction.

The results show that the number of men and women continuing to have sex into old age has increased in both sexes. Among married men it rose from 52 per cent to 68 per cent and among married women from 38 per cent to 56 per cent.

The unmarried also enjoyed more sex, rising from 34 per cent to 54 per cent among men. Unmarried women over 70 saw the biggest rise in sexual activity – more than tenfold – from 0.8 per cent to 12 per cent. A substantial proportion report having sex once a week or more, 31 per cent of the sexually active men and 26 per cent of the women. The studies were funded by a group of Swedish charities and foundations.

The findings suggest that the era of sexual liberation which was ushered in by the introduction of the contraceptive pill in the Sixties has not been limited to the young. The incantation of the flower power generation to “make love, not war” is still ringing in the ears of an older generation.

“Our study shows that most older people consider sexual activity and associated feelings to be a natural part of later life,” Nils Beckman, who led the study, and colleagues from the University of Gothenburg write in the British Medical Journal.

However, while female sexual satisfaction has increased, satisfaction has decreased among men. The authors suggest that men are performing better, thanks to Viagra and similar drugs, but are enjoying themselves less. Athough some things never change, it appears. Men are still blamed, by both sexes, for when sex ends. Peggy Kleinplatz, from the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, Canada, says this finding has been consistent for the past 40 years.

“Even if women are coming into their own sexually – and are more satisfied than ever in the latest cohort – years of men being in charge of making the first move in adolescent sexual encounters in the 1940s and during marriage in early adulthood in the 1950s and 1960s has led to the expectation that men remain responsible for making sex happen. Thus, attributing responsibility for the frequency or lack of sex to men continues,” she writes in an accompanying commentary.

The research highlights the need for doctors to ask all patients, regardless of age, about their sexual concerns, Ms Kleinplatz says.

Petra Boynton, a British sex researcher, said: “It is encouraging that more people are having active sex lives later in life. But reports like this can increase pressure on people to think that there is something wrong if they are not doing it. They need to be reassured that there isn’t.”

Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk
http://www.independent.co.uk