Member-only story
Age Wise
How Sex Can Get Better With Age
The science of sexual satisfaction through the years
Desire for sex hasn’t changed much for me over the years, and while it’s none of your business, it’s still good, sometimes better than ever.
According to science, I’ve got three things going for the older me: I get a lot of physical activity, I feel younger than my actual age, and apparently I’ve developed a little “sexual wisdom.” So if you’re fumbling through your young-adult sex life, or stressed out in middle age wondering where the magic went, trust that there are ways to improve your sex life now and as you get older.
But don’t take my word for it. Just ask Miri Forbes, PhD, a psychology researcher with the Center for Emotional Health at Macquarie University in Australia.
Back in 2018, while at the University of Minnesota, Forbes and her colleagues researched the “sexual quality of life” among more than 6,000 Americans from age 20 to 93. They were surprised to find that people acquire skills and strategies over time that can actually improve sexual satisfaction later in life.
“Older adults actually reported better sexual quality of life than younger adults when we matched them on key characteristics of their sex lives and things like gender, relationship…