The key to sexuality in older people: adapt desires and activity to physical changes

"Sex in older people is the great taboo in our society," says Miren Larrazabal, psychologist, sexologist and president of the International Society of Specialists in Sexology.

Sexuality is a central aspect of the human being that is present throughout life, according to the World Health Organization.

This also includes senescence, although this stage is not always associated with sexuality.

In 2019, the population over 65 years of age exceeded 700 million people, according to data from the United Nations (UN).

In the next three decades, it is estimated that this figure will double to more than 1,500 million people in 2050. In 2021, in Spain, this age group accounted for almost 20% of its total population, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Larrazabal considers it essential to provide information to older people, based on scientific knowledge, that allows them to adapt their wishes and activity to those physical changes that they may undergo.

"It is good that sexuality is accompanying the entire life cycle," he maintains.

Recently,

a study looking at sexual activity in older people was published in

Specifically, the research is made up of a sample of 511 people who live in the Belgian country and whose age is between 70 and 99 years.

The results reveal that a third of them are sexually active (31.3%).

As sexually active they understood sexual contact with penetration, masturbation, anal sex, oral sex... 47.3% of the sexually inactive reported having experienced forms of physical tenderness: intimate contact, without penetration or masturbation, such as kisses or caresses.

In 2012, this same magazine published a similar analysis with data on sexuality in the elderly collected in Spain, whose sample amounted to almost 2,000 people.

The results also show that sexuality is present in Spaniards over 65 years of age: in 62.3% of men and in 37.4% of women.

The parameters are more lax than in the previous study.

As sexual practice they included kisses and hugs, oral sex, vaginal intercourse and masturbation.

Adina Cismaru-Inescu, a clinical sexologist, doctoral student in the field of aging and co-author of the research from Belgium, believes that these analyzes "demonstrate that sexuality in the elderly exists and physical tenderness as well."

As in the rest of the ages, the sexuality of older people is influenced by multiple factors.

The gynecologist Ana Ezquerra Giménez defends that what is fundamental is physical and mental health and that there are some differences depending on sex.

In women, menopause, and the consequent decrease in hormones produced by the ovaries, affects libido and produces physiological changes in the external and internal genital apparatus such as vaginal dryness or less orgasmic response in intensity and duration, for example.

"The intimate perception of each woman of these natural changes, her acceptance as a new stage of life and her adaptation to a new situation, in an optimistic way, are key in the development of a subsequent pleasant, non-traumatic sexuality", she reasons. .

To this should be added the pathologies of age,

suffered by both women and men.

They do not experience menopause as such, but their testosterone levels drop slightly in old age.

Ezquerra Giménez emphasizes that these problems can be treated by specialists.

Some drugs that are taken to control age-related pathologies have an impact on sexuality and sexual desire, especially psychoactive drugs, recalls the sexologist Larrazabal.

"Sometimes we professionals forget that sexuality is very important for older people and just as we announce the side effects of certain drugs to young people, we must also do it with the elderly," she explains.

Sexual desire is a fundamental part of sexuality.

It is very complex and numerous biological, psychological and sociocultural factors are involved, according to Larrazabal.

Although not everything is known about it, the sexologist confirms that it is known by experts that having an active sexual life is the best way to maintain desire.

“That sexual desire presents different faces throughout life.

Sexuality must be cultivated, it must be developed ”, she insists.

This sexuality does not have to be focused on intercourse or genitality, but can be a broader model of sexuality, defends the expert.

The benefits of practicing it are numerous: "Sex provides a state of well-being and has a lot of influence on a physical level: for the circulatory system, for the heart, to reduce the level of stress...", summarizes Larrazabal.

And, in addition to the physical issues, it has a great psychological impact.

The perception of the elderly

The perception that older people have of sexuality is positive.

This is determined by a review of more than a dozen studies published in the

in 2019. However, there are some issues that pose a barrier to the expression of sexual desire: stereotypes, prejudices of cohabiting people , the lack of intimacy at home and the association of procreation with sexuality.

This research shows how women who lived in the community demanded adequate education on sexuality to help them naturally assume the changes after menopause.

Regarding widows, the association of sexual relations with their role as wife is striking, which implies that when they were widowed, there was a turning point that put an end to their sexual life.

Many of the participants, especially those who followed the doctrine of the Catholic Church, expressed that the purpose of sexual relations was conception and not pleasure and that these relations were part of the duty as wives and not something created for enjoyment.

The lack of sexual education in the elderly is one of the causes that feed the taboo of sexuality at that age, defends Cismaru-Inescu, one of the authors of the Belgian investigation.

In addition to the perceptions that are held about older people, such as the image of them as grandfathers and grandmothers who only "bake cookies and go for a walk".

The psychologist Larrazabal believes that sexuality in older people is surrounded by myths.

“The first is that sexuality ends at a certain age of life and that it leaves the life of the old man and the old woman.

We have to understand that we are a gendered species,” she says.

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