KissMeGoodnight eLearning Series:
Your Sexual Health

Sexual Health During Menopause:
Men and Women

As men and women, age the body experiences several changes. Some of these changes have an adverse affect on the sexual experiences. A slower response time is an area that disturbs older adults and does not mean that you should give up on sexual pleasure. This is a great time in your life and you can become creative and try new positions and other forms of sexual pleasure to stimulate arousal. Here is a look at some of those ways to help maintain sexual health during menopause.

For Women

Foreplay: Arousal can take longer for the older adult, so this is a great time to enjoy foreplay. Take as long as you want and enjoy pleasuring each other or yourself. There is no hurry, only pleasure waiting to be enjoyed.

Communicate: Talk about what excites you and listen to what turns on your partner. This is both enlightening and at times can be arousing.

Try a new place: Do not have your sexual encounter only in the bedroom. Lighten it up by trying different places. Set time aside and go to a local motel for the night. A change, even a small one can flood the senses with pleasure. While you are experimenting with new locations explore self-stimulation with or without your partner or together. You can incorporate this form of pleasure into foreplay and enjoy a wonderful experience.

Often as the woman ages, her vagina becomes drier and the labia will lose a bit of its firmness. During this time, the clitoris can become extremely sensitive.

Lubrication: Find a lubrication that you prefer and make it part of your sexual experience. Using lubrication is a great way to moisten the vagina, which will make intercourse very pleasurable. There are water-based lubricants and oil-based lubricants that you can purchase with a prescription. An added bonus to using lubricants is that they can become part of foreplay.

Vaginal estrogens: These are effective, for the short term, to ease the discomfort of vaginal dryness. It is important to discuss this option with your doctor because there are side effects of the estrogen.

For Men

Older men will often experience a delay in achieving an erection. They require more manual stimulation than before. They also have a longer period between the time that they reach an erection and ejaculation. It might be helpful to stimulate each other and relax until you both have been fully satisfied. Another change for older men is that once orgasm has been achieved, the penis quickly loses it firmness. If the man is taking any medications, he should speak to his doctor about possible side effects of losing his sex drive or other functions of his libido.

It is important for the woman to be patient with her partner just as he is with her. If you find you are unable to achieve an erection after spending time trying to different methods you may want to talk to your doctor about possibly having an erectile dysfunction.

Heart disease: this can be very disconcerting for the man because he does not want to over-exert himself with the sexual act. If you have had a heart attack or have had heart surgery, you might wonder when you can fully enjoy pleasuring your partner and being pleasured in return. The rule is if you can walk up two flights of stairs without difficulty, your heart is ready for the exercise in sexual gratification.

Positions to try: be creative with different positions and keep trying until you and your partner find a position that benefits both of you. The “spoon position” is where you both lie on your sides and the woman has her back to the man – just like a pair of spoons – this can be very intimate and enjoyable. Another option is the person whose back may not be as strong can by lying down and the stronger partner kneeling above them. You could also take turns with this position giving each a rest from being on top.

Entering menopause and aging does not mean that sex has come to an end you are no longer able to enjoy yourselves. Quite the opposite, you now have more time to communicate, experiment with different positions, and completely enjoy your sexual encounters.

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KissMeGoodnight.com : 2006

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