Sexually Active Elderly Couples Lead Happier Lives
It seems as if sex is still every bit as important in relationships for elderly people as it is for people in their 20’s. Researchers were recently going over a past survey of married couples 65 or older, and found that those still engaging in regular sex were overwhelmingly happier with their lives and marriages. The survey polled 238 seniors and was conducted back in 2004 by the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. The participating seniors were asked to rate their feelings about their marriage and their lives in general by responding to questions that they either were happy, pretty happy, or not too happy. Upon reviewing these past surveys, the researchers noticed that there was a trend of happiness that related to couples’ sexual activity. Of those that had not had any sexual activity within the last year, 40% said they were very happy with their lives. However, researchers saw ta rise in this number to 60% among the couples that were having sex at least once a month. Similar results were found when couples were asked about their marriage.
Of the couples that reported they had no sex life for the last 12 months, 59% said they were very happy with their relationship compared to the 80% of couples who were sexually active at least once a month that were very happy with their marriage. 
One of the researchers, Adrienne Jackson, PhD, said, “This study will help open the lines of communication and spark interest in developing ‘outside the box’ approaches to dealing with resolvable issues that limit or prevent older adults from participating in sexual activity. Highlighting the relationship between sex and happiness will help us in developing and organizing specific sexual health interventions for this growing segment of our population.”
Of course, old age makes a number of things more difficult; health conditions and lack of energy create challenges that as younger people we don’t need to take into consideration when having sex. Retirement and children leaving the house can lead to a lot more free time with your spouses, and relationship cracks can grow. However, the “empty nest” as its called, opens up a lot more space and time to be romantic with each other. If you’re interested in more information, be careful how you phrase the search for old people sex in Google- I already made that mistake today.
