SEXUAL JOURNEY THROUGH MIDLIFE: PHYSICAL CHANGES

When we reach midlife, our lives are about half over. We have come a long way from our childhood years. Many people mistakenly think that after they get married or live with someone for many years, life will get boring. This does not have to be true. Our sexuality does not stop growing, changing, or being expressed just because we are older than 29! Our middle adult years are a new and exciting leg of our sexual journey through life. Midlife, or middle age, is generally considered to range from 40 years to 55 years old. The two biggest myths surrounding our midlife sexuality are (1) older people are no longer interested in sex and don’t have sex anymore, and (2) older people are unable to enjoy sex.

We will explore the physical changes that accompany middle age. We will also look at some of the concerns of our midlife years. Our sexual desires are no longer as exclusively focused on the attributes of youth and attractiveness as they were when we were younger. We become more concerned with our potential partners’ sense of themselves. Self-worth begins to matter more than physical appearance.

At this time of life, we reach a stage in which our bodies change in ways that may be unexpected and dramatic. This stage of change is called the climacteric. The climacteric marks the physiological changes that occur in our transition into midlife. Both women and men go through a climacteric. It is a more definitive stage for women because they pass through a transition from being fertile to infertile. Men do not experience this transition. Men are fertile until death. Women experience greater physical changes in their middle life. The changes for men are less noticeable and cause fewer side effects.

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