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Age not a barrier to healthy sex life

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Age is no barrier to desire and performance, with studies showing how simple steps can improve sexual function.

New research conducted by dating website illicitencounters.com has found that sign-up among the over-forties has doubled in the five years since its launch, with almost 50% of married men and 36% of married women over 40 reporting having had sex up to five times in the past month.

While age doesn't have to be a barrier to a fulfilling sex life, biological changes can have a significant impact on libido and performance.

So, what really happens to sex drive as we age and, more importantly, once it's lost what can be done to get it back?

Prescriptions for Viagra-like drugs - used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED) in men - have doubled in the past decade with a staggering almost three million written in 2014.

But heartening research on 25000 middle-aged men published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that consuming three or more portions of food and drink such as red wine, blueberries, cherries, citrus fruits and radishes could reduce a man's risk of developing ED by 14%.

Men who exercised regularly reduced their risk by 21%.

"As you reach middle age, libido becomes a bit like the stock market," says Dr Ian Kerner, a sex psychologist based in New York.

Declining sex hormones play a big part in both desire and sexual functioning as we age.

In men, for every year after 40, the sex hormone testosterone drops by about 1%, with one in five men tested showing low levels, says Vivek Wadhwa, consultant urological surgeon at Spire Parkway Hospital and Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust.

"Along with low sex drive and erection problems, this can cause symptoms such as lethargy, poor sleep and short-term memory loss."

It's also common for men's erections to become less reliable after 40, says Cate Campbell, a psychosexual medicine specialist and author of The Relate Guide to Sex and Intimacy.

Sex researchers Masters and Johnson found that in middle age, women tended to take less time to reach orgasm than men, but hormones could still have an impact. - The Daily Telegraph

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