For many women, that’s false! Many women say they maintain hormonal balance and interest in sex through menopause. Some sex researchers say the best predictor of having a good sex life after menopause is having a good sex life before menopause. Women who are happy with their premenopausal sex life are a lot more likely to maintain that satisfaction after menopause.
While menopause marks the end of a woman's reproductive cycle, it doesn’t end her sexuality. Menopause can be a very defining time for most women. They might be realizing they’ve put their sexuality on the back burner for a long time, and if they don’t use it now, they may lose it forever.
Menopause allows many women to actually feel liberated. At this point, they no longer worry about pregnancy or about getting their menstrual cycle. Forty to fifty can still be anxiety ridden for many women because they can still get pregnant. Once you’re menopausal, that worry is pretty much gone. No more worrying about tampons, pads, pills, diaphragms, IUDs, or condoms.
After 50, your kids aren’t likely to be interrupting sexual intercourse or waking you up in the middle of the night. You can have the greatest sex life on earth now that spontaneity can take over.
Menopausal age women are also typically confident and knowledgeable about what they want, so sex has the potential to be better than ever. There’s some data to suggest women become less inhibited as they age, so it’s often a time of relaxation and being comfortable with whom they are, and that often improves sexual functioning and sexual performance. Remember Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate? She was a great example. Older women know what they want in the bedroom and aren’t shy about it.
Some experts say declining hormones may mean you’ll want sex less, but that isn’t necessarily so. Desire, once quieted by birth control pills, can reemerge. Even with midlife hormonal changes that can lead to vaginal dryness, many menopausal women see this as an excuse to experiment and discover new, more pleasurable experiences, courtesy of vaginal lubricants.
Menopausal women may still get stressed at work. But most likely at this age, women are as stressed by their jobs as they were in their 20s, 30s, or 40s. Older women are more likely to have achieved their career goals and may feel less stressed. Stress has a very negative effect on sexual desire.
Foxnews.com
EverydayHealth.com’s Menopause Center
Menopause.org
WebMD
MSN health and fitness
Stacy Lloyd is a writer and video producer. A former television news journalist, she covered stories around the world. Currently, she produces corporate and non-profit videos and broadcast programming.