Better Sex After Menopause?

N E W   Y O R K, Feb. 28 -- Most people don’t like to think of their mother or grandmother having sex.

Our youth-oriented society flaunts nubile, scantily clad women promoting everything from soap to cars. These media images perpetuate the idea that a gray-haired woman who reaches menopause is not “sexy.”

But behind closed doors (and even in nursing homes) many older women are facing the “change of life” with renewed sexual exuberance, now that worries about pregnancy are gone.

Progressive Changes Toward Menopause

By definition, menopause is not having a period for a 12 consecutive months. The average age menopause occurs for an American woman is 51, according to the North American Menopause Society.

But the process toward menopause is progressive, like the need for reading glasses, explains Dr. James Simon, an obstetrician/gynecologist in Washington.

Many women (and men) when they hit their middle 40s come to realize they can no longer see fine print and, one day, they need reading glasses, he says. “It may seem like a sudden event, but it is a slow process of the muscles in our eyes not being able to accommodate and focus so easily,” Simon says.

The same thing happens to women with menopause and their sexuality. As women reach their 30s, 40s and 50s, their hormone levels start to fluctuate, affecting their ability to be fertile and menstruate. Lowered estrogen can result in missed periods, hot flashes, mood swings, sweats, and night wake-ups. One day, they no longer have their periods.

Lack of estrogen also can create vaginal dryness. If untreated, either with lubricants or hormones, intercourse can become painful, Simon says.

Sexual Desire Diminishes With Age

Additionally, as women age, sexual desire may diminish because of reduced androgens, or male hormones. No Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment currently is available for women for loss of libido, but doctors may formulate suppositories or creams of the androgen testosterone to help.