Resarchers Asked Middle-Aged Women Why They Stopped Having Sex – It Wasn't Menopause

It’s communal for women to announcement changes successful their thrust and sex lives successful their 40s and 50s, sexologist and writer astatine Passionerad, Sofie Roos, antecedently told HuffPost UK. 

Sometimes, these tin beryllium caused by hormonal shifts similar perimenopause and menopause. Vaginal dryness, reduced humor flow, and symptom during penetrative enactment can go much likely during this beingness stage.

But Roos added that these shifts are not inevitable, nor are they ever negative.

Indeed, a 2012 insubstantial suggested that women implicit 80 are among the astir sexually satisfied, contempt little intersexual tendency oregon intersexual activity. Another survey recovered that women’s levels of age-related sexual “dysfunction” didn’t look to impact their likelihood of staying “active” in the bedroom. 

Instead, the top origin by acold was the value they placed connected sex.

So possibly it shouldn’t beryllium each that astonishing to larn that successful a 2023 study, male-partnered middle-aged women didn’t accidental property oregon menopause were the biggest reasons down declining intersexual activity. 

Sex frequence whitethorn spell down without a diminution successful satisfaction

In this study, researchers looked astatine information from 2,133 pistillate participants progressive successful the 3rd British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, conducted betwixt 2010 and 2012. They sought to find links betwixt male-partnered women’s intersexual satisfaction, enactment and relation successful midlife with wellness and manner factors.

The squad besides conducted interviews with 23 women, aged 45-59, who’d said they weren’t blessed with their enactment lives successful the survey. This, the authors said, was done because “women’s perspectives seldom pass interpretation” of information similar these.

The survey recovered that having enactment little often was a batch much communal than little intersexual restitution among this cohort. In different words, it’s imaginable that women successful midlife were perfectly blessed with their enactment lives, adjacent if they weren’t “getting it on” arsenic regularly.

Interestingly, aft analysing their data, the researchers besides recovered that “neither menopausal signifier nor property was independently associated with immoderate of the dimensions of intersexual experience”. 

But narration dissatisfaction was independently linked to little intersexual satisfaction, activity, and function. Difficulties successful communicating with their spouse were besides tied to 2 of these factors (dissatisfaction and little function), too. 

Tiredness mightiness beryllium an ignored origin here 

After in-depth interviews with unsatisfied women successful midlife, the survey authors “identified influences connected intersexual enactment not captured successful the survey”. 

A recurring taxable was exhaustion owed to the “contemporary challenges of midlife”. This “dominant” tiredness whitethorn beryllium much apt to alteration intersexual enactment and restitution if a woman’s narration besides felt lacking.

Speaking to HuffPost UK astir women’s slumber successful midlife, Dr Ghazala Aziz-Scott, a specializer successful women’s wellness astatine the Marion Gluck Clinic, formerly told america that “Women thin to person children successful their 30s and aboriginal truthful perimenopause comes with juggling galore competing responsibilities, and we person an ageing population, [the work for whom] besides falls connected the shoulders of women successful society”. 

She added, “All this positive managing moving extracurricular the location takes its toll connected the accent levels of midlife women, and their ain self-care successful presumption of eating good and exercising goes connected the backmost burner”.

This isn’t to accidental that physiological changes person nary relation successful women’s intersexual experiences during midlife. Another study that looked astatine factors affecting women’s enactment lives successful mediate property recovered that those who got less blistery flashes had much intercourse than others, and higher oestradiol levels were associated with less intersexual difficulties.

However, the same insubstantial also recovered that fatigued middle-aged women tended to beryllium much apt to person a partner, but besides had much intersexual difficulties.

The 2023 study, which included interviews with women, concluded, “sexual acquisition successful midlife indispensable beryllium interpreted successful airy of some life-stage and era, notably, the expanding demands connected women successful modern nine and their interaction connected vitality.

“Efforts to code intersexual wellbeing should instrumentality relationship of the wider societal context.”