Understanding Sexual Health After 40: A Guide for Mature Singles 

Sexual health continues to change once you reach 40 years old, as the body undergoes various changes. Your emotional comfort, wellbeing, communication, self-esteem, all of them suffer various changes. And that’s why it’s incredibly important to adapt and implement things in order to improve your life cohesively.

What Changes Appear After 40?

The truth is that you will experience a sleuth of changes when you reach this age. And while it’s not all bad, you will have to get used to these modifications, something to take into account.

You experience a lot of hormonal changes. In the case of men, the testosterone levels are declining gradually, which leads to a lower sex drive, a decrease in stamina and various mood changes. For women, they experience fluctuating estrogen levels, hot flashes, libido changes and vaginal dryness, among others.

There are also changes when it comes to the circulation and nerve function. Around 31.4% of men experience lower erection stiffness, with 28.7% having a poor erection quality.

Moreover, there are changes that appear when it comes to sexual desire. Here, it will fluctuate quite a bit, depending on the person. Some of them will start being more aroused and look for live cams for mature singles to spice up their life. Others will have a decrease in sexual desire.

Some Chronic Conditions Will Affect Sexual Health

It’s important to note that our body is much more prone to health issues after 40. Ongoing health problems like heart diseases, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, thyroid problems and depression/anxiety will impact your libido and sexual performance. That’s why, if you see any changes in your performance and health, it’s imperative to connect with a doctor as quickly as possible.

Emotional and Psychological Changes

It’s not your body that experiences a lot of changes after reaching 40 years old. There are psychological changes that you are experiencing as well, such as:

• Body image and confidence will suffer quite a lot of changes. You have comparisons to your youth, which can diminish your confidence levels. And that can affect your libido, along with your sexual performance as well.
• If you’re single at 40 years old, you will also be affected by past trauma and heartbreaks. That leads to a lost in desire, trust and discomfort in regards to intimacy. It’s very important to try and work through your past experiences either with help from a support group or a therapist, as that will help immensely.
• Aside from that, you will experience more pressure, anxiety and stress in your daily life. Naturally, that does influence the way you feel and your emotions might have a negative impact when it comes to pleasure and wellbeing, too.

Consent and Communication

As you age, you will find that communication becomes a lot more important. While in your 30s you didn’t pay a lot of attention to it, after 40 it becomes a lot more prevalent. When you date in your 40s, you do want to know what you are comfortable with sexually, if there are any boundaries, what feels good, and also how you like to be touched. It’s important to also learn how to better connect with your partner.

Aside from that, there’s also the topic of consent. You do want both parties to be comfortable with each other. If there are boundaries that you both have, you need to communicate about them, so things are much easier to understand. Any change in regards to comfort and desire should be respected appropriately, based on the situation at hand.

Tips to Consider When Dating After 40

Clearly, things change when it comes to your sexual health, but also what you want from a date in your 40s. That’s why you really need to understand what you want, what you expect, but also what challenges you’re facing here.

• Be ready to express yourself and understand the type of person you are looking for. Ideally, you want to be honest with yourself and communicate your expectations.
• Online dating is rather dangerous these days, especially with so many scams out there. A good rule of thumb is to meet people in public places at first, avoid over-sharing any details and use only reputable platforms. Telling someone you trust about who you meet and where also helps.
• Don’t rush into things. Take the slow and more methodical approach. You want to be certain that you focus on quality time and enjoyment rather than rushing into things. Too fast of a pace can lead to problems, and it’s a much better idea to avoid it.

What About Masturbation?

You can go ahead and continue masturbating, that’s helpful at any given age. It reduces stress, it will increase your awareness, while also boosting confidence when it comes to partnered sex. And yes, if you want to use aids or sex toys, then that makes a whole lot of sense. These can be handy if you want to compensate for any erectile problems or vaginal dryness. It’s a handy thing for sure, and nothing to be ashamed about, either.

STI Protection

Whether we like it or not, there will be a lot of people with STIs, so you have to think about that. Using condoms, getting regular STI screenings and also asking partners about their existing STI status, that will help a lot. Even dental dams should be used for oral sex. That’s the thing, you are sensitive to STIs in your 40s, and with various other health issues, stuff can easily add up.

Aside from that, you also need to think about fertility. Getting those things checked up will help quite a lot. It can be a slow or sharp decline, depending on the situation at hand. That’s why, if pregnancy is a goal, you do need to see a reproductive specialist, just to make sure things are ok at this time.

More Tips

A good rule of thumb is to exercise often. It seems like a minor thing but it will improve your mood, energy, confidence levels and make you feel better.

Moreover, it helps if you have a balanced nutrition. The idea is to support things like heart health, bloodflow and hormonal stabilization. Beans, fish, leafy greens are great for both your heart and circulation, so keep that in mind.

Sleep 7 hours per night at the very least. Otherwise, a lack of sleep combined with stress will lead to sexual performance and libido issues. You can start counteracting those problems by creating a sleep routine, reducing the amount of coffee you drink during a day, while trying all kinds of relaxation techniques.

It’s clear that you always need to take your time and better understand your body once you reach your 40s. Your sexual health will change, and so will the way you think of yourself and your body. All these tips shown above can be excellent, and they will always continue to push the limits. It’s extremely important to stay calm, maintain a great attitude towards yourself, and you will have a much better outcome in the end. In your 40s, you have to maintain a good self-esteem, as that also influences your life immensely.