How to Have a Great Sex Life When You’re Over 60

It may surprise younger people to learn this, but sexual wellness and wellbeing can be just as strong in the over 60s as in the under 30s. There is no rule that says that when you get to a certain age you have to stop having sex, and recent research has even found that those who are over the age of 65 may be having far more sex than anyone realises.

 

A study, published recently, found that more than a quarter of those who were over the age of 70 reported that they had had sex in the past year, and – perhaps even more surprisingly for that generation – more than half of people aged between 57 and 75 said that they had either given or received oral sex recently. In addition to this, around a third of 75 – 85 year olds had given or received oral sex in the past year.

 

It is true that sexual activity does tend to diminish as people get older, but this is not due to a decrease in sexual desire. It is mostly due to health issues that occur as people get older, which can result in couples being less sexually active than they used to be.

 

Even in this day and age, when attitudes towards sex can seem somewhat flippant, talking about sexual habits is still considered a taboo subject. This is even more the case with older generations, who are so used to not talking about the subject. Many people over a certain age will not even consider talking to their spouses about sexual problems, let alone a doctor.

 

This is part of the reason that many seniors who struggle with sexual problems end up suffering from social withdrawal and depression, because they are unable to talk about it. Others may find that a doctor could change a medication if it is causing serious sexual side effects.

Categories: nbsp, oral sex, over 60, people, received oral, seniors, Sex, sexual, sexual problems, talking, year

How to Stop Your High Blood Pressure Ruining Your Sex Life

While high blood pressure doesn’t often effect your wellness with any major symptoms, you may be able to quite clearly see the impact it has on your sexual health. Although having sex or engaging in any sexual activity isn’t likely to pose an immediate threat to your wellbeing – such as a heart attack – having high blood pressure can make sex less enjoyable, especially in men. Studies have proven a link between high blood pressure and sexual problems in men, but for women who have decreased sexual satisfaction, it’s not yet proved that high blood pressure is to blame. Nonetheless, treatment for high blood pressure and satisfaction with sex can go hand in hand — but only if you’re open about the problem and work closely with your doctor.

 

The reason why high blood pressure affects men’s sex lives is because, over time, it damages the lining of your blood vessels, causing your arteries to narrow and harden. This is a condition known as atherosclerosis and it limits your blood flow. As a result of atherosclerosis, blood cannot flow to your penis as easily, making it more difficult for you to achieve and maintain erections. This is otherwise known as the fairly common problem of erectile dysfunction (ED). Every time this happens to you, you can feel anxious that it will happen again. This means that men can try to avoid sex, which, in turn, has a negative impact on your relationship. Moreover, high blood pressure can reduce your sexual desire and interfere with ejaculation.

 

For women, high blood pressure’s effect on sexual problems still isn’t well understood, but it is possible that high blood pressure could affect your sex life. As with men, high blood pressure reduces blood flow, meaning that the blood cannot get to your vagina as easily. While women don’t necessarily need blood flow to be able to have sex, decreased blood flow to the genitals can lower your sexual desire or arousal, make it more difficult for you to achieve an orgasm, and contribute to vaginal dryness. However, lubrication and taking steps to improve your arousal can help. Still, the anxiety these problems cause – as with men – can mean you’re reluctant to have sex, which contributes to relationship problems.

 

Therefore, if you’re a man or a woman who experiences such difficulties, you should talk to a doctor about ways to make things better. The more your doctor knows about you, the better he or she can treat your high blood pressure — and help you maintain a satisfying sex life – so be open and honest, and prepared to answer questions your doctor may ask. Go to your consultation equipped with the following information:

• Any medications you are taking


• Whether your relationship with your sexual partner has changed recently


• Any recent feelings of depression


• Any stresses you are currently facing, and whether or not that’s more than usual

 

Your doctor will most likely recommend lifestyle changes that promote overall health, and boost your sexual satisfaction as a result. By eating healthy foods, reducing the amount of salt in your diet, losing weight, exercising regularly and not smoking, you can lower your blood pressure and potentially improve your sex life. Moreover, this healthy lifestyle will give you a leaner body, which will boost your confidence and help you feel more attractive – and that’s a plus to anyone’s sex life. Remember, you also need to communicate with your partner, as this will help to alleviate both of your worries and give you ways of moving forward. One thing you might try is initiating intimacy in a different, more relaxing way, such as through massage or getting in the bath together.

Categories: Blood, blood flow, blood pressure, high blood, high blood pressure, Lifestyle Changes, pressure, reduced blood flow, sex life, sexual desire, sexual problems, sexual satisfaction

Men’s Sexual Health: How to Improve Your Bedroom Performance

All men want to take care of their wellness, be it by watching what they eat, getting exercise on a regular basis, and/or managing the stress in their lives. However, what you may not realise is that you can similarly take care of your sexual health, and protect your wellbeing against problems before they occur. So, what do you need to keep in mind in order to maximise you sexual health?

 

1. Healthy Diet: You may not think that what you put in your body impacts your sexual performance, but it does! Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean cuts of meat, whole grains and low-fat milk can keep your “sexual” system in good working order, particularly if you pay close attention to vitamins B3, B6, B9, C and E. These vitamins work to enhance your blood flow, sperm activity and sex hormone production.

 

2. Regular Exercise: Sure, sex can provide a good workout, but if you don’t engage in regular activity outside of the bedroom, you may soon find yourself experiencing sexual problems – plus your partner won’t mind a little less flab and a little more tone! Check with your physician, and then start a program of regular exercise that includes walking, cycling, tennis or whatever you find enjoyable.

 

3. Stop Smoking: Aside from all the other disastrous things smoking does to your health, many doctors agree that smoking can be a major cause of sexual dysfunction in men. The majority of men who suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED) are smokers, studies have found, as smoking damages the small arteries that feed blood to your penis. Research also shows that smoking reduces the number and quality of your sperm. Moreover, no woman wants you to whisper sweet nothings in her ear if she has to put up with your fag breath, so speak to your doctor or look online for information about quitting.

 

4. Drink Less Alcohol: Alcohol may make you feel sexier by lowering your inhibitions, but it also reduces your libido, causes erection problems, and often impairs your ability to have an orgasm – so what’s the point? Also, drinking too much alcohol increases your risk of developing ED, so try to cut back to the recommended amount of three to four units a day.

 

5. Manage Your Stress: When you’re stressed, the exhaustion, worry and nervousness that comes along with that can also feed into your sexual problems. By learning stress management techniques and finding ways to handle anger and sadness, you will be doing your part to maintain your sexual health (and your sanity).

 

6. Do Kegel Exercises: Kegels are usually exercises women do to increase sexual enjoyment, but men can also do them to delay ejaculation and heighten orgasms. This is because Kegel exercises strengthen the muscles that connect the base of your penis with your tailbone, and these are the muscles that control the flow of fluids through your urethra. To locate the right muscles, stop your flow while peeing. The muscles that do these are the ones you need to contract, exhaling as you do so and inhaling when you release. Contract and release for four to 10 seconds, three times a day, and you’ll gradually build up their strength, and your pleasure.

 

7. Use lubricants: As you grow older, it’s common to experience a gradual loss of sensitivity in your penis.  However, using lubricants can help to increase your sexual enjoyment by giving you a freer range of motion.

 

8. Maintain a Positive Attitude: Studies have proven that you’re less likely to experience problems in your sex life if you have a positive attitude towards life, so try to see the bright side, and enjoy the benefits!

Categories: better sex, Kegel Exercises, Lifestyle Changes, men, nbsp, positive attitude, problems, regular exercise, sexual, sexual enjoyment, sexual health, sexual problems

Four Ways To Boost Your Libido

When you think about aphrodisiacs you mind might be immediately drawn to thoughts of Viagra. Of course, it’s the famous name in the business and there are many men who think that if they begin to suffer with problems with libido they can just start taking Viagra and that will solve all of your problems for you. And as with most problems in life, this is often far too simple an analysis and will not work in reality. In fact, the Viagra is only useful as a way to combat specific cases of erectile dysfunction and cannot actually help to raise libido or help you if you have other sexual problems.

 

So, what can you do if you’re having problems in the bedroom that aren’t linked to erectile dysfunction, and thus can’t be cured with Viagra? Well, there are a number of options at your disposal but thankfully there are a number of natural ways to help to boost up your libido. We’ve created a list of four of the best ways to do it. It will help you if you are struggling sexually and want a natural way to help increase your libido. It has to be recommended that you speak to your doctor before considering taking any of these options.

 

DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone)

You may not have heard of DHEA but it’s actually one of the most popular aphrodisiacs that you can buy over the counter. It is a synthetic hormone supplement, and can help you out if you’re not naturally producing enough hormones. DHEA is now available in capsules, tablets, chewing gum, sub-lingual (under the tongue) drops and creams, meaning you’ve got a great variety of ways that you can get it into your system depending on your personal taste and desires. It is usually bought and used by those who hope to improve their sex drive and performance. Different sources have recommended different levels and doses for its use as an aphrodisiac, so it’s best to do a lot of research on it before you use it.

 

Yohimbine

No-one would blame you for not knowing what yohimbine is, as it actually comes for a tall evergreen tree that is native to West Africa, and is called the yohimbine tree. It has been used all across Africa for a long time as an aphrodisiac and a way to fight against erectile dysfunction. You can take the dried bark and turn it into a tea. This will reportedly boost your libido and can even help you are struggling to maintain erections.

 

Epimedium

Epimedium comes highly recommended from Chinese traditional medicine where it is used as a way to increase libido. You hardly ever hear of it in the West, but in China and the East it is well known as an effective cure all for many sexual problems that you might suffer from. In China it is mainly used to help increase your sexual desire and make you want to have sex, but it’s also true that some men take epimedium for sexual performance problems, including premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction.

 

Catuaba and Muirapuama

Catuaba and muirapuama are two trees that originate in South America. It is often used by men who live north of the Amazon. It has actually become fairly big business in this part of the world and can help you out a lot if you’re struggling with this sort of thing.

 

You can use any of these ideas to help you if you have this kind of problem. Make sure your consult your GP before so that you get the right advice for you.

Categories: Dysfunction, erectile dysfunction, libido, nbsp, problems, Sex, sexual problems, ways

Is Your Diabetes Wreaking Havoc on Your Sex Life?

Diabetes is more of a health concern than ever, as new research suggests that the condition could take its toll on your sexual wellbeing. According to the study, which was funded by the US government, middle-aged and older women with diabetes are less satisfied with their sex lives than are women without the blood sugar disease. The same is said of diabetic men, as it has long been established that diabetes makes blokes more prone to sexual wellness problems such as erectile dysfunction. However, it was less well-known how the disease affected the sex lives of women – until now.

 

Lead researcher Dr. Alison Huang of the University of California, San Francisco, commented, ‘It’s an area that is very understudied, particularly in older women.’ Therefore, Huang led a team of researchers to analyse a survey of nearly 2,300 California women aged 40 to 80 years. The findings, which are published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynaecology, revealed that more than a third of women who are on insulin treatment answered “moderately” or “very” when asked how dissatisfied they were with their sex lives. The same was answered by a quarter of diabetic women who weren’t on insulin, but less than one in five non-diabetic women answered likewise.

 

Huang explained, ‘It’s not that diabetic women are not interested in sexual activity. The diabetic women in the study had more sexual problems, but they were just as interested in sexual activities and had a similar level of sexual activity as women without diabetes.’ Sexually active women who took insulin were more likely to complain of problems with lubrication and orgasm compared to non-diabetic women, while those with complications related to the condition – such as heart and kidney disease – were the least likely to have sex at least once a month.

 

According to Huang, following a diabetic diet and getting regular exercise will help you to reduce your problems between the sheets. ‘I think these results do suggest that if you are a diabetic woman, preventing complications may help prevent development of sexual problems,’ she said. However, the team did find one perplexing result; women with elevated blood sugar levels were less likely to report low sexual satisfaction. Nonetheless, Huang noted, ‘I don’t think it’s likely that very poorly controlled blood sugar leads to better sexual function in women.’

Categories: Blood Sugar, Diabetes, diabetic, diabetic women, dissatisfying sex, older women, sex lives, sexual, sexual activity, sexual problems, Women

How to Cope When Your Partner Experiences Sexual Problems

If you’re in a long-term relationship, the chances are that one or both of you will experience sexual health issues. Whether the reason is physical or psychological, your sex life can come to a halt, or end altogether, and this can take its toll on your relationship wellness, as well as your own sense of wellbeing. If your partner seems to no longer want to have sex with you, what do you do?

 

The partners of people with sexual dysfunction have three options:

 

1. Suppress your own urges. Deprive yourself of sex and feel frustrated as a result. This will inevitably lead you to resent your partner over time, and even develop a stress-induced physical or psychological disease such as hypertension, peptic ulcer, ischemic heart disease, hysteria, psoriasis and migraine.

 

2. Get out of the relationship and/or start a new one. You may want to leave your partner, or else indulge in sex outside of marriage. A lot of people use their partner’s sexual dysfunction to justify having an affair, as their “valid” needs aren’t being fulfilled. However, I’m not sure your partner will see it that way.

 

3. Understand, accept and cope with the situation. This is really the only option you have if you want to come out the other side happy and strong in your relationship. You need to understand this is an inevitable part of your journey as a couple, and, when you evaluate the relationship as a whole, there are strong aspects of it – full of genuine love – which are worth staying and fighting for. There are resources available to help you get your sex life back on track, and other ways to share intimacy in the meantime.

 

The truth is that everyone goes through sexual problems, and it’s not the be-all and end-all of a happy relationship or marriage. Researchers at the Family Therapy Centre of the Western Psychiatric Institute at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania asked 100 married couples about their sex life. While at least 80% of these partners described themselves as “very happy” or “happy”, over 90% reported having a less-than-perfect sexual relationship. Moreover, not one couple expressed a need for change.

 

The problem is that it’s easier to isolate and focus on a small aspect of the problem – sex – rather than look at the relationship as a whole. More often than not, other factors are at work in your relationship, and just fixing your sex life won’t solve these underlying issues. Sexual dysfunction, be it problems with arousal, desire or with your sexual organs, is often a symptom of a deeper emotional problem, especially if you’ve not experienced any problems with your sexual functioning before. You may have unexpressed anger or disappointment, unresolved conflicts, a fear of failure or a lack of trust, and that is what’s keeping you from enjoying a healthy sexual relationship.

 

While there are medications you can take to help with sexual issues, and things you can do to spice things up in the bedroom, the problems won’t go away if you try to hide or suppress the underlying weaknesses in your relationship. By discovering the real problems and working on them with your partner, you will see your sexual problems diminish and eventually disappear. You might want to seek the help of a therapist, who can help to open the channels of communication, and find the cause of your sexual problems. The important thing to remember is that sex is a mirror or barometer of the rest of your relationship, telling you how well your relationship is working, and when it needs more attention.

Categories: Advice, Deeper Issues, nbsp, partner, problems, relationship, sex life, sexual, sexual dysfunction, sexual problems, sexual relationship

Could the Debate Over Female Sexual Dysfunction Affect You?

When there’s an issue with your sexual health, as a woman, you face a long history of sexist stereotypes, as well as a fierce current debate as to how these stereotypes can be undone. Though you’d expect your doctor to be up-to-date with contemporary opinion, there still remains a problem with uneven diagnosis and treatment. Wellness experts and frustrated patients assert that while a man with a sexual dysfunction will most likely be taken seriously and given treatment by his doctor, as a woman, you’re more likely to be told to “relax,” and the problem is probably “all in your head.” Let’s take a look at the female sexual dysfunction debate; does it exist? And how does it affect your wellbeing?

 

In 1999, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study in which 43% of all women (and 31% of men) surveyed reported experiencing an episode of a sexual problem (meaning lack of interest in sex, difficulties with orgasm or erection, or finding sex painful). In this widely cited study, the researchers termed these troubles as “sexual dysfunction,” noting that these episodes were “significant public health concern” and needed new treatments—especially for women. But if it’s happening to almost half of women, doesn’t that make sexual problems “normal”, rather than dysfunction?

 

According to Irwin Goldstein, MD, director of San Diego Sexual Medicine and the editor in chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine, “We can’t as physicians tell people what is normal.” Yet still we have a burgeoning industry of sexual health medications and centres which tell a different story; your sex drive and/or sexual response falls short of that nonexistent “normal” – but we have the solution for you. However, psychologist Joy Davidson, PhD, who’s on the board of directors of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counsellors and Therapists, asserts “If you say for two weeks out of the past year you had no interest in sex … Well, maybe you were stressed out at work, maybe you were pissed off at your husband. Maybe you had the flu! You can be a very sexually healthy, sexually vital person, but there may be times when your sex drive is low. That’s not a dysfunction; that’s life!”

 

Experienced sexologist Leonore Tiefer, PhD, a psychiatry professor at NYU School of Medicine, has taken this belief one step further and spear-headed a campaign against the “disease-mongering” actions of labelling problems with desire and arousal as female sexual dysfunction. Tiefer explains, “Sexuality is much more a cultural matter than it is a biological matter.” Biology she reserves for dysfunctions in terms of sexual pain, which she acknowledges can be a medical issue. Sexual problems with desire and arousal, then, may occur for non-medical reasons, so does that mean you have to grin and bear it?

 

Andrew Goldstein, MD, an associate professor at George Washington University, argues, “Hurricanes, AIDS, and earthquakes are all natural, but not desirable,” questioning how a doctor can dare to deny your wish to get back your sexual pleasure? In fact, during one of Dr. Tiefer’s lectures about the naturalness of losing libido after menopause, a woman in the audience reportedly protested “But I liked sex!” Aside from the sheer fun of it, sex is important in many wellness areas, be it for starting a family, connecting and growing as a couple or boosting your self-esteem.

 

So whether your sex problems are psychosocial or biological, who cares? “I think both issues are real,” says Marjorie Green, MD, director of the Mount Auburn Female Sexual Medicine Centre, and a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. Biology and psychology overlap in the study of sex drive and sexual function more so than in most other areas of human health, and Dr. Green claims she prescribes therapy as often as she prescribes drugs. The important thing to note is that help is available, in whatever treatment it comes, so don’t let your sexual wellness suffer unnecessarily just because your problems are “normal”.

Categories: biological, female sexual, Female Sexual Dysfunction, goldstein md, md director, psychological, Sex Drive, sexual, sexual dysfunction, sexual health, sexual medicine, sexual problems