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Menopause isn’t the sex killer you think it is

New research has found that a lagging sex drive may not be caused by menopause. Photo: Getty

A lagging sex drive is thought to be a common symptom of menopause, but a new study has found it may not be the buzz killer we once thought.

In a study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, researchers analysed four years worth of data on women’s sexual health.

Participants answered questions before and after menopause with study authors examining various aspects of the women's sexuality including desire, orgasm, arousal satisfaction and pain, and how they changed over time and interacted with each other.

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It’s usually though that menopause brings around a low sex drive, as a decline in hormones including oestrogen can cause your libido to check out. While researchers expected that problems with sexual function would increase after menopause, they found that over the four-year study period, the rate of sexual function (22 to 23 per cent) remained the same in both pre and post-menopausal women. The take away? A decline in oestrogen may not be a factor in sexual issues as often thought.

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“We were surprised by the results,” lead study author Dr Tim Spector said. “They suggest that menopause has been exaggerated as an excuse for everything.”

The study also found that improvements in sexual function were the same for women before and after menopause, suggesting that a lack of libido may be reversed. “By modifying your life and attitudes about sexual desire, you can change things sometimes surprisingly for the better, although you are getting older,” Spector said.

Bottom line: getting older doesn’t mean saying goodbye to your sex life. Your sexual desire can change and be improved without menopause getting in the way.


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