Sexual issues in middle adulthood

Sharing personal information brings people closer together. Verified by Psychology Today. Heart and Soul Healing. We are often surprised by changes that occur in our sexual lives during middle age. The two hormones that most affect sexual physiology, estrogen and testosterone , tend to decrease during midlife, in both women and men.

Great sex is not just for young people. Learn how older people can manage flagging hormones and other common issues. For many people, hormonal changes, chronic health conditions and medications, stress, fatigue, and midlife weight gain can thwart efforts to have healthy intimate relationships. Many older adults report that, while they consider sex an important part of life, they are not happy with their current sex lives.

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The midlife crisis may also result in a person divorcing his or her spouse, changing jobs, or moving from the city to the suburbs. Of course, not everyone experiences stress or upset during middle age; instead they may simply undergo a midlife transition, or change, rather than the emotional upheaval of a midlife crisis. Other middle adults prefer to reframe their experience by thinking of themselves as being in the prime of their lives rather than in their declining years. During the male midlife crisis, men may try to reassert their masculinity by engaging in more youthful male behaviors, such as dressing in trendy clothes, taking up activities like scuba diving, motorcycling, or skydiving.