Sexual health – Here is the disturbing fact that you probably already know: As a woman ages, hormone levels fall, so too can enjoy her – and often desire – sex
Here’s the good news: Although goodbye to sex hormones and can be done in the same breath, the latest research shows that sexual desire has less to do with this change, or with the lifestyle and other factors on health, at least some of a woman under direct control.
These are encouraging results reported by a group of leading experts from the European sex this month but the first one addition to menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society.
"The findings have helped health professionals to discard the idea that the sexual problems that are close to menopause or biological or physiological," writes Rosemary Basson, FRCP, professor of psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of British Columbia and guest editor of special issue.
The review was part of a series of studies on female sexual dysfunction by the department of clinical psychiatry and psychotherapy at Hannover Medical School in Hanover, Germany. As part of the overall project, 102 women aged 20 to "45 plus" 165 questions designed to flush determinants of female sexual satisfaction.
Specifically, researchers hoped to determine satisfaction with sex life in general, sexual satisfaction, and orgasm during sex, intercourse, masturbation, attitudes toward sexuality, quality of partnership, and sexual myths.
What the study showed: There was no age differences in the frequency of sexual intercourse or the desire for sexual activity not involving intercourse between the different age groups.
Moreover, age does not make a difference regarding the frequency of orgasm or sexual satisfaction ratings of their partners. For example, 29% of women to 45 years reported having orgasms "very often" compared to 26% of women older than 45th
Even more dramatic was that while 41% of women over 45 years reported having orgasms "often," only 29% of younger women reported having an orgasm often "."
Among the few differences between the groups: women over 45 reported having fewer orgasms during non-coital sexual activity or during masturbation. Both groups of women are two dimensions necessary for a successful love making, which included both emotional feelings of connectedness with their partner and satisfying physical experience.
After comparing the responses of both older and younger women, and of women who reported sexual problems and who is not, researchers concluded that the most influential factor related to sexual satisfaction through sex, the quality of the partnership in particular the quality mutual respect, which then become more important as a woman ages.
After comparing these results with previous findings of the study and the current, the researchers concluded that the basis of any sexual problems that occurred in middle age could not be drawn from menopausal status or age. Instead, they write, "life stressors, contextual factors, past sexuality and psychological problems are important predictors of midlife women, sexual interest than menopause status itself."
The study was just one of many research papers presented in the magazine this month on the topic of female sexual dysfunction. All sought to shed light on a subject that badly needed some believe is hidden in the shadows for too long.
For the NYU professor of gynecology Steven Goldstein, MD, the findings validate what he has long been suspected to be true.
"It’s great that this is studied and the results that reinforce what I, and I think many doctors have long believed – that this whole question of changes in midlife sexual function is not a simple case of" eliminating take the hormones, the desire away, "says Goldstein us. Moreover, he adds that "as we move forward, to understand all of the complex, non-hormonal elements that women’s sexuality influence remains crucial, particularly in deciding who is a candidate for a hormonal treatment that could increase to help and who might benefit more from simple lifestyle changes, "says Goldstein.
Hormones and your Sexual Thunder
Indeed, many experts contend it’s no small coincidence that much of the attention is now focused on female sexual dysfunction is fed by the FDA pending approval of a patch testosterone, a hormone treatment along with estrogen, believed the sexual appetites influence in some.
The fact that the hormone levels decline as a woman ages further stimulates the suggestion that the replacement of declining hormones is the way to nirvana postmenopausal.
And while testosterone, estrogen alone or with supplements, may prove useful for some women, even some doctors involved in testing the new patch believe, as this new study indicates that it will not be the panacea for all women who are sexual problems.
"You can a woman with a low testosterone to switch to a new partner, and suddenly her libido is fine, or you can a woman with lots of testosterone levels in a bad relationship, or who suffer from depression, and her desire is actually drunk ", said endocrinologist Glenn D. Braunstein, chairman of the department of medicine at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and a prominent researcher involved in the recent clinical trials of the testosterone patch.
In the end, says Braunstein, the new sex study valid, and he agrees that sexual dysfunction in women is "a multi-factorial problem" involving not just the hormones, but a host of other factors, including depression, a bad relationship, side effects of medication, and many live and work stressors.
"In and of itself one of these things can only be a difference, but do you all and balance enough to cause real difficulties for some women," says Braunstein us.
Judith Reichman, author of I’m not in the mood: what every woman should know about improving her libido, agrees, emphasizing that sexual problems can occur at any age and that women are not wired to be "passive victims of hormonal dysfunction. "
"Yes, hormones, and in some women they can make a difference, but I think what this study really tells us is that our sexuality is a lot Splendored thing and when something goes wrong, you can not say that only hormones whether it is self, or is it just the relationship. For women it is always a combination of factors, a simple and Viagra-like solution will never be the answer for us, "says Reichman, obstetrician-gynecologist at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles.
As such, she tells us that "a doctor to look at all the opportunities and tackle because just throwing hormones on a patient and the expectation that all do, and that just will not do."
The really good news: There is something you can do Although there may be no "magic bullet sex" the right for all women, experts are increasingly recognizing that at least part of what may be uncomfortable lump into your mattress midlife factors clearly are under your control.
As the new study demonstrates, this approach to new (or old) that demons can cause depression and medication if necessary, dealing with related problems to fix (or even find someone new), one gets thorough checkup including medical tests for low thyroid function and iron deficiency, with attention and any sexual side effects of medications. Perhaps the most important for many women is how the past sexual experiences or cultural and personal attitudes can influence how you view sex – and the definition of sexual intimacy – in later years.
"Many women in menopause head right to believe that their sexual lives will suffer, and they act accordingly. I think the main point of this study is that this is not a" given "for any woman or even most women" says Reichman.
The coin flips Goldstein, encouraging women to not "buy into a false bill of goods" when it comes to sexual expectations as birthdays sail.
"One of the wrong name to be foisted on a large number of women is a decrease in sexual function should be equated with distress, to the point where patients begin a number of my belief that there is clearly something wrong with them just because pointless swinging from the chandeliers, "says Goldstein.
In fact, he says, the noise generated is currently on female sexual dysfunction is such that it can actually create stress in a woman where there is none. And, he says, affects her sex life and every other aspect of life here.
"If you’re not happy with how your sex life is playing out in your earlier years, then yes, by all means, talk to your doctor and find a solution, but at the same time, do not feel compelled to do or feel forced to do things based on something you read in a magazine or heard in the beauty salon to change, "says Goldstein.