Half of English men over 70 are still having sex, study finds

The University of Manchester has found that a large number of elderly people still have active sex lives

Older people are continuing to enjoy active sex lives well into their seventies and eighties, according to new research from The University of Manchester

More than half (54 per cent) of men and almost a third (31 per cent) of women over the age of 70 reported they were still sexually active.

A third of these men and women said they had frequent sex – meaning at least twice a month – according to data from the latest wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).

It is the first study on sexual health of its kind to include people over the age of 80 and uncovers a detailed picture of the sex lives of older men and women in England, finding that a sizeable minority remain sexually active in their old age.

More than 7,000 elderly people were asked about their sex lives by Manchester’s School of Social Science.

“We hope our findings improve public health by countering stereotypes and misconceptions about late-life sexuality, and offer older people a reference against which they may relate their own experiences and expectations,” said report author Dr David Lee.

"Our ongoing research is also highlighting the diversity of late-life sexualities, and trying to impose youthful norms of sexual health on older people would be over-simplistic and even unhelpful.

“It is however important that health professionals act on this and are more open about discussing sexual health with older people – it can’t simply be assumed to be an irrelevance."

Problems encountered by older people which stopped them having sex, or enjoying intercourse fully, included failing to become aroused, difficulty achieving orgasm, and for men erective difficulties.

Chronic health conditions and poor self-rated health seemed to have more obvious negative impacts on the sexual health of men compared to women.

Men were more concerned about their sexual activities and function than women and, with increasing age, these concerns tended to become more common. Sexually active women were less dissatisfied with their overall sex lives than men, and also reported decreasing levels of dissatisfaction with increasing age.