An unprecedented study of sex and seniors finds that many older people are surprisingly frisky – willing to do, and talk about, intimate acts that would make their grandchildren blush.
That may be too much information for some folks.
But it comes from the most comprehensive sex survey ever done among 57- to 85-year-olds in the United States. Sex and interest in it do fall off when people are in their 70s, but more than a quarter of those up to age 85 reported having sex in the previous year.
And the drop-off has a lot to do with health or lack of a partner, especially for women, the survey found.
The federally funded study, done by respected scientists and published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine, overturns some stereotypical notions that physical pleasure is just a young person’s game.
“Most people assume that people stop doing it after some vague age,” said sex researcher Edward Laumann of the University of Chicago.
However, more than half of those aged 57 to 75 said they gave or received oral sex, as did about a third of 75- to 85-year-olds.
“Bravo that the New England Journal of Medicine is publishing something like that. It’s about time,” said Ruth West heimer, better known as “sexpert” Dr. Ruth, who has long counseled seniors on sex.
Good survey response
The survey involved two-hour face-to-face interviews with 3,005 men and women around the country. Researchers also took blood, saliva and other samples that will tell about hormone levels, sex-related infections and other health issues in future reports.
Some results:
Sex with a partner in the previous year was reported by 73 percent of people ages 57 to 64; 53 percent of those ages 64 to 75, and 26 percent of people 75 to 85. Of those who were active, most said they did it two to three times a month or more.
Seniors’ senses tested
The survey had a remarkable 75 percent response rate. Only 2 percent to 7 percent did not answer questions about sexual activities or problems, although a higher percentage declined to reveal how often they masturbate.
Researchers also used state- of-the-art technology and products donated by several companies to test people’s senses. Taste strips were used to see if people could distinguish between various tastes (sour, salty). Special devices were used to test the ability to smell certain scents, including a suspected pheromone – a smell thought to evoke sexual responses.
Scents and tastes “get under the skin to influence biology,” and scientists wanted to know whether these senses diminish as people age, said Dr. Stacy Tesser Lindau, a University of Chicago gynecologist.
Niels Teunis, an anthropologist and researcher at the Institute of Sexuality, Social Inequality, and Health at San Francisco State University, said the survey bolsters the “use it or lose it” factor seen in previous studies.
“If you are doing it, you keep doing it. If you slack off in marriage like when you’re in your 40s, it’s hard to pick it up when you are older,” he said.
Jack Menager, 83, and his wife, Elizabeth, 84, of suburban Los Angeles say they have had a good sex life for nearly 60 years.
Jack admitted that as physical endurance wanes, “you have to work at it harder.” The couple take twice-daily walks, drink wine in moderation and talk a lot, said his wife.
“I think it’s important,” Elizabeth said of sex. “It just makes you feel close.”
More men than women felt that way. Only 13 percent of men but 35 percent of women said sex was “not at all important.” Menopause has a big effect on women, and the drop-off of estrogen makes many of them less interested in sex, Dr. John Bancroft of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University wrote in an accompanying editorial.
But menopause also means women no longer have to worry about getting pregnant, and many have more time and feel freer after children are gone, notes Westheimer, the sex adviser.
At age 79, she said, “I don’t ever answer personal questions” about sex. But she added, “I certainly have a zest for life.”
