People over 70 are having loads of good sex — yay!

If you thought your parents and grandparents were just quietly playing pinochle at the retirement home, then you are wrong, indeed. A new study proves that people over 70 are still sexually active. And since we are all going to get there someday (God willing), it’s kind of nice to know there is still hope, right?

The study, from The University of Manchester and NatCen Social Research, questioned 7,000 people in their 70’s and 80’s. About 54 percent of the men and 31 percent of the women said they were still sexually active. Not terrible, right? And, of those, one-third said they had frequent sex, at least twice a month.

A part of me jumped for joy at this notion. It’s great, right? And anything that increases awareness that older people are vibrant and vital is a positive step in the right direction.

On the other hand, those numbers seem low. I know, I know. It’s great that they are getting busy at all and we’d all like to think we are in that one-third of women who are still happy and healthy and getting it on, but that means two-thirds of us won’t be. That means a woman who is forty right now, if she falls into that majority, will no longer be sexually active in just thirty short years? Ouch.

Something about this just breaks my heart.

And of course, there is the extra downside that the CDC reports sexually transmitted diseases are up among baby boomers to a nearly alarming degree. Yikes.

Still, it’s important to focus on the good here. And there is a lot. If sex isn’t all you hope for in your 20’s and 30’s, isn’t it comforting to know you have another 60 or 70 years to keep practicing? And if it IS good, well then you are in luck, too. It’s just going to keep getting better and it’s not going to stop. Pretty nice, right?

Maybe it’s time we stopped looking at old people as gross or quiet or weird or not important. We will all get there someday and it’s nice to know things may still be exciting.

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