So you enjoy adventurous sex? The following bit of news may just make you watch you sexual behaviour. A recent study reveals that individuals with a history of sexually transmitted diseases including multiple partners and risky behaviour pay a price later in life. Such individuals lose the drive or heart for sex later on.
Interviews from participants of the 2005-2006 National Social Life, Health and Aging Project, a nationally representative survey of community-dwelling older US adults were used for the study. It was based on data from a national sample of 1,550 women and 1,455 men, aged 57 to 85. The study gathered information on a broad range of biological measures along with sexuality, health and social life.
Edward Laumann, sociologist at the University of Chicago, and co-author of the paper, remarked “Having had an STD roughly quadruples a woman’s odds of reporting sexual pain and triples her lubrication problems. The results point to a need for physicians treating older adults for sexual problems to take into account their physical health and consider their mental health and their satisfaction with their intimate relationship in making any assessment.”
Laumann had earlier led a study in 1999 that observed sexual dysfunction among men and women between 18 to 59 years of age.
The study found that sexual dysfunction has a strong association to a number of factors like mental and physical health, demographics and lifetime experiences, many of which are linked.
The study showed that physical health was a bigger predictor of sexual problems for men than it was for women. A previous history of STD makes men five times more prone to express displeasure for sex. Men suffer from the most common problem of erectile dysfunction, a problem that increases with age. For men under treatment of urinary tract syndrome, it was found that they had trouble maintaining and achieving an erection. Additionally mental health issues and relationship problems in men leads to lack of interest in sex and the inability to achieve orgasm
Certain health issues on the other hand make women more likely to experience sexual dysfunction according to the study. Among older women urinary tract syndrome is a common factor for sexual dysfunction. It is linked with mental health issues such as anxiety and decreased sex interest.
While daily alcohol consumption improved a woman’s sexual health with an increased interest and pleasure in sex, no such impact was observed among men.
The current issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine has published these findings.