Many women also said that they were unable to have orgasms as they got older...

A project done by the University of Chicago and funded by the Federal government shows that many older people do not give up on their sex lives and continue to maintain sexual relationships well into the twilight years.

The results showed that almost ¾ of individuals between the ages of 57 and 64 said that in the previous year they had sex. Just over half of those between the age of 64 and 75 also reported sexual activity and just over ¼ of people between the age of 75 and 85 said the same. The majority of the people who said that they had sexual relations at these ages said that they had sex at least 2 or 3 times each month.

The survey noted that older women were more likely to be sexually dormant than men and this is probably because they find it hard to find sexual partners at their age. Men and women whose reported good health were far more probable to be sexually active when compared to those older people who had poorer health.

About half of all the men and women questioned said that they had problems with sex. In the men it tended to be erectile dysfunction and in women the biggest problem was a lack of desire closely followed by vaginal dryness. Many women also said that they were unable to have orgasms as they got older.

For men the erection problem was nearly always sorted out by using erectile dysfunction medication like Viagra, Cialis or Levitra but as female sexual problems are far more complicated and there is very little medication on the market to help them women were not so fortunate in being able to sort out their problems.

The results of the survey were recently published in the respected medical magazine called the New England Journal of Medicine.