Menopause: Attack on Lust?

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.

Long before the last menstrual period, the fun of sex begins to wane for some women. But is it really just the hormonal changes to blame? And what can a woman do?

The technical term for the quality of sex life is as dry as it is bulky: sexual function. To determine it, factors such as sexual desire, sexual excitability, sexual satisfaction, orgasm intensity, but also pain during sex are taken into account.

Sexual turning point?

All of these components of sex life change with age - in both men and women. When and to what extent this is the case, however, varies greatly from person to person. For women, at least, menopause is seen as a critical turning point in sex life.

"There has been some discussion in the past about the extent to which the decline in sexual function in women is due to menopause, aging itself, or other physical, psychosocial and social factors," explains Nancy Avis of the Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Questions about sex life

To clarify this, she and colleagues evaluated data from women who had participated in the so-called SWAN study. At the beginning of the study, the participants were between 42 and 52 years old.

Avis and colleagues took into account the information from 1390 women who had answered questions about their sexual function at seven points in time during the study and for whom the date for the last menstrual period had been recorded. Among them were 226 women who had their uterus removed during this time.

Decreasing sexual function

From the information, the researchers determined the quality of the sexual function on a scale from 0 to 25 points. The average sexual function value at the beginning of the study was 18 points.

About 20 months before and a year after the last menstruation, this value decreased by an average of 0.35 points per year. After that, the decrease slowed down significantly: During the further five years of the observation period, the strength of sexual function fell by an average of 0.13 points per year.

That was at least the case for women who had entered menopause naturally. Women who entered the menopause prematurely due to surgical removal of the uterus did not feel a corresponding “lead time” with decreasing sexual function. But even with them, the sexual function decreased after the operation to the same extent as with the other participants after the last menstrual period.

"Our results support the thesis that menopause has a negative impact on sexual function in many women," says Avis.

No dramatic loss

However, the study also shows that the losses are not really dramatic: If you calculate, sexual function decreased by an average of 1.35 points within seven years around the menopause. In addition to the hormones, other well-known factors may also have been involved.

The psyche is crucial

On the one hand, how a woman is psychologically positioned is decisive for sexual satisfaction. For example, a stable self-confidence and the conviction that you can influence your fate have a positive effect.

Conversely, the expectation that sex will become less satisfying with menopause can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy that makes sexual problems more likely.

And if you have internalized that sex is neither impossible nor taboo, even in old age, you certainly have better cards for sexual satisfaction. Those who manage to reorganize themselves mentally will be able to have more fun in bed.

Break down physical barriers to sex

In addition to the psyche, physical, especially age-related complaints can be detrimental to sex - and here, too, something can often be done. Incontinence, for example, inhibits making love, but it can be treated. And a dry vagina is not fate either: hormone-containing creams that are applied to the vagina help and solve the problem.

The best sex after the change

In fact, some women experience postmenopausal sex as better than ever. They know what they want in bed and they say that too, they are more self-confident than when they were young, they may live in a sexually established partnership, are generally more relaxed - and no longer worry about contraception.

Source:

Avis, Nancy et al .: Change in sexual functioning over the menopausal transition: results from the Study of Women "s Health Across the Nation, Menopause, October 31, 2016

Tags:  medicinal herbal home remedies unfulfilled wish to have children fitness