Use It Or Lose It: How Age, Hormones, And Masturbation Predict Sexual Health

Regardless of our age, we would all love to have a thriving sex life. Men and women reach their sexual peaks between their late teens and early 20s, before it slowly starts to decline with age. Typically, sex is a sign of health, but if we stop having it on the regular, can we really lose it if we don’t use it?

The short answer is “yes.”

Sex is like a muscle; if you don’t exercise it, it’s gone. As April Masini, relationship expert and author, explains, the incidence and frequency of sex revives our sexual health.

"The more often you have sex, the more confident you become about having it — both your own ability and the ability of the relationships in which you’re having the sex," she told Medical Daily in an email. So, in a way, that confidence and the strength of the relationship will make it so that sex can "take care of itself."

1.MEN: WHEN SEX NEEDS A TUNE-UP

Erections are key when it comes to preserving male sexual function. A 2008 studypublished in the American Journal of Medicine found men who reported having sexual intercourse once a week were half as likely to develop erectile dysfunction (ED) as men who had sex less frequently. The study tracked over 900 men in their 50s, 60s, and 70s for five years and showed regular sexual activity preserved potency in the same fashion as exercise preserved the body’s capacity. 

Dr. Fran Walfish, Beverly Hills psychotherapist, author of The Self-Aware Parent, and expert panelist on WE TV’s Sex Box emphasizes the importance of stimulation to keep things functioning. Age, she says, can put men at risk for performing sexually, such as premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction. Erections help maintain the health of the nerves of the penis, and this habit can ward off erectile dysfunction, a condition marked by occasional erections, not lasting long enough for sex, or the inability to achieve one at all.

So, what's a man to do if he does develop ED? Walfish suggests sexually active men and women engage in alternative excitation practices, such as oral sex, manual touching, and the use of sex toys, among many others.

“When they do age, if by chance they suddenly come face to face with 'use it or lose it,' they are well prepared for other ways to pleasure each other,” she said.

That's not to say that ED's psychological effects aren't a barrier. Men with cardiovascular disease, for example, may become nervous and experience performance anxiety, making erectile dysfunction worse. So, it's important for couples to search for safe, healthy ways to practice stimulation.

2.WOMEN: WHEN SEX TAKES A BACKSEAT

Similar to men, women benefit from regularly engaging in sexual intercourse. A healthy vagina, when sexually aroused, self-lubricates and the vulva engorges. First, the muscles of the vagina begin to relax, and the bartholin glands in the vagina produce the vaginal fluid which makes the inside extra wet, says the Mayo Clinic. This fluid was once part of the blood that flows to the genitals and the pelvic area during arousal.

“Sex is the best aphrodisiac [for arousal],” Dr. Tammy Nelson, expert in sex therapy in Ridgefield and New Haven, Conn. told Medical Daily in an email.  So, “when a woman stops having sex, over a period of time, her body will decide to decrease the amount of hormones and therefore tell her that she is not aroused nor does she have the desire for sex.”