Sex, like most other functions of our body is a normal process

Sex, like most other functions of our body is a normal process. As other functions, like for example, the digestion, can be upset by factors like a bad mood, stress or similar such things, so can the sexual function be disturbed by a whole lot of factors. These may not necessarily involve the anatomy but instead it’s the mind, which makes the difference. Read more

Seniors Having More Sex Than Ever

(HealthDay News) -- When it comes to sex, grandma and grandpa are having more of it these days, new Swedish research suggests.

According to the study, the last quarter century has seen a dramatic ris in the frequency of sex among the 70-year-old set, whether married or unmarried. And as an added bonus, seniors today (particularly women) say they're much more satisfied with their liaisons than the previous generation -- facing less sexual dysfunction and feeling more positive about the experience.

"Our study shows that a large majority of elderly consider sexual activity and sexual feelings a natural part of late life," said study author Nils Beckman, a doctoral candidate with the neuropsychiatric epidemiology unit at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at Gothenburg University. "It is thus important that health professionals and others take sexuality into consideration, irrespective of age."

The findings are reported online in the British Medical Journal.

Beckman and his team reviewed surveys concerning sexual behavior and attitudes that had been completed by more than 1,500 healthy 70-year-old Gothenburg residents over a 30-year period.

The polls had been conducted in 1971-1972, 1976-1977, 1992-1993, and 2000-2001.

Between the first survey and the last, the frequency of sexual intercourse was found to have increased among all groups. Among married men, 68 percent said they were engaging in the practice in the latest poll, compared with 52 percent in 1971, while among married women the number had risen from 38 percent to 56 percent.

Among unmarried men, the jump went from 30 percent to 54 percent in the same 30-year span, while among unmarried women the observed bump was from just under 1 percent to 12 percent.
Women seemed to make the most headway in terms of increasing their sexual satisfaction. While men expressed more positive attitudes about sex in 1971, by 2001 the gender difference had evaporated.

As well, more 21st-century women said they were highly satisfied with their sex; fewer said they had low satisfaction; more said they experienced an orgasm during sex; and fewer said they had never had an orgasm.

Regarding the degree to which the respondents said they felt "very happy" about their relationship, the three-decade trend also moved in a similarly positive direction for both genders: rising from 40 percent to 57 percent among men, and from 35 percent to 52 percent among women.

Beckman and his colleagues speculated that, in part, the findings might simply reflect the degree to which Western societies have become more comfortable in dealing with sexual matters frankly and openly -- perhaps leading to a greater willingness to honestly report sexual encounters.

"(And) maybe it has become more permissible to leave an unhappy marriage today," suggested Beckman. "And even for widows [and] widowers to establish new relations."

Whatever the explanation, S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health and senior research scientist at the Center on Aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), said the findings closely mirror the results of similar research conducted at UIC and elsewhere.

"Probably the addressing of physiological problems with the development of medications like Viagra explain some -- but not all -- of the upward sexual activity trend," he said. "But the most important point being made here is that when it comes to sex, clearly it doesn't matter what age you are. At least most men and many women still have a desire to have it as they age."

More information
For more on seniors and sex, visit the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

Low Childhood IQ Tied to Dementia in Old Age

Your IQ in childhood may predict your odds of getting a common form of dementia in old age, according to Scottish researchers who turned to 76-year-old test scores to come to that conclusion.

"This study draws on unique childhood IQ data and finds that lower childhood IQ increases risk of vascular dementia, but not the most common cause of dementia, Alzheimer's disease," said study co-author John M. Starr, a professor of health and aging at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

The finding was published in the June 25 online issue of Neurology.

Vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia, after Alzheimer's disease, the researchers noted. It occurs when the blood supply to brain cells is impaired, often by chronic problems such as high blood pressure or diabetes.

To explore the origins of dementia generally, the authors looked at the school records of 173 Scottish men and women, all of who were born in 1921. Each had participated in a standardized survey of mental health and ability conducted in 1932, when the children were about 11 years old.

All the patients had been diagnosed with some form of dementia at some point after the age of 65. Almost half of the dementia cases were classified as Alzheimer's disease. Almost 19 percent were diagnosed with vascular dementia, while close to 5 percent were a mix of the two.

Childhood test results among the dementia patients were compared with results for two additional groups of healthy patients of similar ages, genders, birth locations, and parental occupations.

Patients with vascular dementia had significantly lower scores in terms of mental ability than the healthy patient groups, the researchers reported. Having a higher test score at age 11 was associated with a significantly lower risk for vascular dementia, they noted. No such trends emerged for Alzheimer's disease.

Vascular disease stresses the brain and raises the risk for dementia, Starr said. So, the finding could help experts reassess their approach to preventing dementia, he believes.

To date, physicians have typically faced two options, he noted. They can either help the brain resist stress by focusing on the patient's "cognitive reserve" -- thought to be made up of factors such high IQ and good education. Or they can simply try to reduce the amount of vascular stress the brain faces.

Because a lower IQ had no impact on Alzheimer's disease risk, the latter strategy -- reducing vascular stressors on the brain -- may be the better option, Starr said. That means cutting down on vascular risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

However, Dr. Charles DeCarli, a professor of neurology and director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center at the University of California at Davis in Sacramento, said he isn't convinced of a link between IQ and vascular dementia.

"This is an interesting study and an interesting take," he said. "And, of course, I agree that it is always important and useful, as a general public health measure, to address the risk factors for vascular dementia."

"But I don't think you arrive at any conclusions about these kind of risk associations with dementia without first looking at these patient's brains," DeCarli added. "And they haven't. This would be important, because, on the one hand, much of the risk for various kinds of dementia is inherited. And, on the other, Alzheimer's typically strikes at an older age than vascular dementia. So, while you may see vascular dementia develop at an earlier point in time, it doesn't mean that the risk for Alzheimer's isn't there down the road. So, I think these conclusions are premature."

More information
There's more on vascular dementia at the Alzheimer's Association.