Why you need to have more sex as you get older
A new study has discovered how women who have lost interest in sex can reignite their passion again.
The research found that those who are finding themselves making up excuses to avoid intimacy, can cope better if they confront the fact that sexual desire changes over time.
The study also found that if you expect your passion levels to always stay the same, it can create difficulties and pressure in the bedroom.
Loss of libido affects a third of females every year and is one of main problems women face in the bedroom.
If women ignore the changes in their sex drive, they can be in denial about the lack of a sex life and disengage emotionally from their partner.
The study’s lead author, Siobhan Sutherland, from the University of Waterloo, said, “Women who believe that sexual desire levels remain the same may feel that challenges with sexual desire, such as low sex drive, are impossible to overcome and therefore they try to avoid or ignore the problem.”
She added, “Our findings suggest that holding a belief that sexual desire changes over time may protect women against responding helplessly to their sexual problems.”
The study of 780 women found that those who understand the fluctuations in their passion levels are less likely to adopt negative coping strategies.
The study looked at how women cope differently based on their beliefs about sex drive.
In two studies the researchers gave women two separate articles to read – one explaining how sexual desires fluctuate and the other saying that it stayed the same over a decade.
To see if women had been influenced by the article, they were then asked for their own beliefs.
They were asked to say if they had experienced or were likely to experience the loss of libido and then completed a test to show the strategies they would use.
Those who believe sexual desire stays the same were more likely to use negative coping strategies such as denial, mentally distancing themselves from their partner, physically disengaging or using humour to avoid addressing the issue.
The study, published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, says that the women in the study may have seen "little use in actively coping with sexual desire problems if they believed that these problems do not change".
“Learned helplessness occurs when, after experiencing several failed attempts to achieve a goal, one gives up hope and adopts the attitude that efforts to reach the goal are futile.”
Positive coping strategies include venting emotions and seeking support from other people.