Sexuality in the Elderly: Sexual Dysfunction and Ways of Coping Over the last century, the life expectancy of the elderly has increased. This means that the largest growing population right now, in the United States, is persons over the age of 65 (Sex Tips for Older Adults, 2000). With this in mind, it would be helpful to talk about the personal aspects or as I like to call it, "sex lives" of the elderly. When people in our society think of the elderly, they almost never think of this population having sex or good sex for that matter. But they do! Unfortunately, the elderly encounter problems with sex as they become older and that is what I will be discussing along with way of coping with sexual dysfunction. …show more content…
There are physical changes in women as well that will affect their sexual abilities. The most common attribute is menopause. The natural processes leading up to menopause begin very early in a woman's life. The pituitary gland, a small gland at the base of the brain, signals the production of several hormones, including estrogen and progesterone. These hormones cause the lining of the uterus to thicken and shed throughout the course of a menstrual cycle. During childhood, estrogen and progesterone levels gradually increase to a point that allows the onset of a young woman's first menstrual cycle (Medcohealth, 2002). For reasons still unknown, estrogen levels begin to drop during the mid-30's. During the mid-40's, a woman enters a transitional stage called perimenopause, which usually lasts about four years. During this time, hormone levels begin to rise and fall, leading to irregular menstrual cycles. Monthly periods may be longer, shorter, lighter, heavier, or may not occur at all. Eventually, the amount of estrogen drops so low that it may no longer cause the lining of the uterus to thicken. This is when menopause occurs. The average age for a woman's final period is 51, but it can occur as early as age 40 and as late as age 60 (2002). In older women, the rate and amount of vaginal secretions and lubrications are decreased and there is general atrophy of the
Atrophic vaginitis affects approximately 25 to 50 percent postmenopausal women (Shen, Song, Williams, Brown, et al., 2016). According to Sullivan and Rice (2017), atrophic vaginitis referred to as vaginal atrophy that occurs with vaginal wall thinning related to decrease in estrogen levels. Therefore low estrogen levels can occur in women after menopause, with a history of bilateral oophorectomy, as well as postpartum (Krapt et al., 2015). Atrophic vaginitis is not a sexual transmitted disease since it only occurs in women due to lack of estrogen, which estrogen assists the vaginal wall to maintain thickness and elasticity through retaining the collagen with the epithelium lining along with moistness ( Krapt et al., 2015).
Menopause is the discontinuance of the ovarian and uterine cycle in older women between the ages of 40-50. The pituitary hormone that is checked with a blood test to diagnose menopause is called Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). This test is able to determine whether or not a woman has menopause, and if her FSH levels have increased and estradiol levels decreased its confirmed that she does. The lack of progesterone is the hormone that causes menopause.The changed levels of the pituitary hormone cause the onset of menopause because the imbalance of estrogen to progesterone create symptoms of delayed periods and heavy bleeding. During menopause, estrogen can't be produced by ovaries and is instead created by the adrenal glands and fat tissue
Menopause is a significant event in most women’s lives as it marks the end of the natural reproductive life. For most women, menopause will occur between the ages of 40 and 58 years with the average being 51 years (Zapantis & Santoro, 2003). The timing of menopause globally is relatively constant, however both the nature and severity of symptoms varies substantially between women from different ethnicities and geographical locations for reasons that are not completely understood (Roberts & Hickey, 2016). The Stages of Reproductive Aging Workshop +10 (Harlow et al., 2012) classifies the transition through menopause into five stages which are discussed below.
Menopause is an occurrence in women around between the ages of 40s to 50s. It usually indicates the end of the productive phase of a woman's life. This means that the menstrual flow and the primary functions of the ovaries stop. It is a natural change in life and has variable degree of results to women. It results due to ultimate depletion of all the ovarian follicles in the ovaries. A woman at menopause can undergo treatment to control its symptoms (Lahdenper채, Lummaa & Russell, 2004). This means one can still be reproductive if she undergoes this treatment.
Unlike sex, the history of sexuality is dependant upon society and limited by its language in order to be defined and understood.
Menopause is a condition that women experience due to their decrease in estrogen. There are three stages of menopause. The first stage would be, perimenopause. Perimenopause typically happens in your late 40, three to five years before menopause hits. In this stage, you will start to notice that your menstrual cycle is irregular. Many of the menopause symptoms start in this stage. The second stage would be, Menopause. Menopause usually happens at age 50 to 51, but can happen as early as 40 and as late as 58. It takes one to three years to get to menopause from the perimenopause stage. Menopause can happen earlier if you have your uterus or ovaries removed. The last stage would be, post-menopause. Since menopause is caused by the decrease of
of aging and its physical and psyiological processes. A woman and a man's features change as they age but many of these changes are innate and are more biologically influenced by the aging process. Although, men tend to have more changes that happen to their body than women, but both have changes. Common and most frequent changes in men that occur are the decreased production of testosterone, size reduction and firmness of the testicles (Texas Tech University, 1998). More common complications involve getting or maintaining erections as a result of the increased prostate glands (Zeiss, 2003). As we grow old into the latter years of our adulthood,
double to individual ) - Individual consequences for a man with maturing differ from individual to person.For case - The level of testosterone discharged in a matured ladies fluctuates (Meston, C.M(1997, October).Aging and sexuality. The Western Journal of Medicine, 167(4), 285)).. A base sum testosterone discharge is needed for adequate sexual working. So a lady with less measure of testosterone discharged may not be willing to do sex.Therefore, the adjustment in one's sexual capacities with age may be computed by survey his/her entire lifespan. (Meston, C.M(1997, October).Aging and sexuality. The Western Journal of Medicine, 167(4),
Menopause is described as the interruption of menses after one year of amenorrhea in a middle aged women, usually older than 45 years. S.B. is 51 years old, which is the average onset age of menopause. Menopause naturally occurs when a woman’s ovarian germ cell pool has been depleted. The onset of menopause is determined by the amount of eggs a woman developed during fetal life, by the offences those eggs faced over time, and by genetics as seen in the strong connection between the age at menopausal onset and the age at which other female family members experienced menopause.
As older adults tend to age, their sexual drive tends to decline as a response. Continuing to have sexual relations is an important quality for older adults since it helps their psychological and physical well-being (Papaharitou, Nakopoulou ,Kirana, Giaglis, Moraitou, & Hatzichristou ,2007). The decrease in sexual drives for older adults can be due to factors such as diseases, medications and depression. Other factors may include that the older adult may not have a partner to be sexual active with and actually having privacy to be sexual active. Papaharitou et al, (2007) conducted a study where a sample of married older adults from an age group of 60 to 90 years old.
Though the particular phrase "menopause" is often used as a cover assertion talking about all the stages of menopause change, menopause technically isnt attained until menstrual cycles have totally ended for Twelve months. Nearly all women enter the menopause between the ages of 45 and fifty-five normally, because their bodies approach the end of fertility and ovulation ceases. However, some females experience earlier menopause, resulting from surgeries such as complete hysterectomies and total oopherectomies (the removal of the ovaries). Furthermore, about 1% of females in the country experience earlier change of life on setting prior to the age of forty because of autoimmune problems, cancers treatments, thyroid issues, as well as other medical reasons. When you enter menopause, your own ovaries yield less and less estrogen. Since estrogen is vital to a lot of life-sustaining functions, the body looks for additional places to produce necessary estrogen from. Fat cells can generate estrogen, so the human body reprograms on its own to convert calories into extra fat to help increase estrogen
Estrogen, the “female” hormone as so many people know it promotes the growth and health of the female reproductive organs and system. During the premenopausal stage and then menopause the levels of estrogen begin to fluctuate, then decline and then eventually doesn’t get produce at all. In some cases estrogen levels will rise instead of decline. Usually the levels become unpredictable
Menopause happens after your periods subside. During menopause and the years leading up to it, hormone levels can fluctuate. This can also cause fluctuations in your blood sugar levels, as the hormones progesterone and estrogen have an impact on how cells respond to insulin. Use blood glucose meters to check your blood sugar regularly. Be aware of the symptoms of menopause that are similar to those associated with diabetes, such as fatigue and bloating. Report any irregularities to your doctor immediately.
To conduct this systematic review, multiple literatures were pulled from databases such as MEDLINE, ProQuest, Google Scholar, etc., with specific keywords such as aged, attitudes and care, etc. The findings resulted in an importance of sexuality within older people as well as them understanding that their mental and physical health impacts their sexual health greatly. Even though there are these negative factors, such as lack of mobility, certain diseases and so on, the research showed that older people continued to be sexually active (Bauer et al., 2016). The findings also found that older people were often uncomfortable and reluctant to discuss their sexual needs and health with their health-care professionals, because it appeared that they were lacking an understanding of their needs. Bauer et al. (2016) stated that, “…communication between older people and health-care professionals about sexual issues is currently
Most women often experience anxiety associated with aging. This is reflected in the massive amount of consumer beauty and anti-aging products available to the female population. The emergence of a single line on a woman’s face or a slight puffiness around the eyes, can lead to massive stress over the inevitable aging process. This is due to a prevalent notion that, the older a woman gets, the less desirable she becomes. It is often perceived that she loses the right to dress a certain way, act a certain way and to explore her desires. This documentary will act as a counter argument to this, proving otherwise that woman can continue her journey into sexual exploration for as long as she pleases.