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DOCTORS ADVICE: Sex keeps urge to merge alive
Regular intercourse, masturbation key to long sex life, Siriraj
physicians say
The Nation
July 7, 2005
Regular sex helps prevent sexual dysfunction during old age, and
people should engage in more pleasurable sexual activities either
with their partners or on their own, sex experts said
yesterday.
One in three Thai men aged 60 and up develop erectile dysfunction,
the most common form of sexual dysfunction in males, said Dr Anupan
Tantiwong, associate professor of Urological Surgery at Siriraj
Hospital.
Its now or never, he told the Siriraj Medical Congress in
Bangkok yesterday.
The other two most common sexual dysfunctions in males are loss of
libido and ejaculation disorder, he said.
Dr Pansak Sugkraroek, sex counsellor and columnist, said having sex
regularly is good for older couples.
Making love is good exercise. Its tantamount to climbing 20
flights of stairs, he said.
As the physical structure degenerates, people begin to experience
more difficulties in their sex lives and that usually leads to the
end of sex and finally sexual dysfunction, Pansak said. Its
usually the husband who starts having problems, he said.
When her body is not attractive any more, he then focuses on his
own pleasurable climax, the expert said.
Deteriorating sex lives and relationships among Thai couples is
usually caused by poor communications in a society where sex is
taboo.
The vagina becomes drier and less elastic when women get older, he
said, which makes sexual intercourse painful and uncomfortable, and
leads to less sex between partners.
Older people take longer to reach their sexual climax because of
the physical changes in their bodies, which causes them to imagine
sexual problems and deters them from trying more often.
But they still have sexual desires, Pansak said.
Anupan said local research among men and women aged between 60 and
64 found that more than 80 per cent had sexual desires.
Up to a quarter of the respondents aged 80 years or older said they
still had sexual urges, Anupan said.
Sexual dysfunction problems usually begin at the menopause period
of women and men when physical and chemical changes occur in their
50s.
However, the exception to this occurs with people who have been
sexually active, said Prof Dr Rungnirand Praditsuwan, a urologist
at Siriraj Hospital.
It was also found that the younger people become sexually active,
the longer their sexual function remains, he said.
People seem to regard sexual dysfunction as a mans problem, but
women actually suffer from this problem more because they live
longer than their men, he said.
A considerably higher number of females aged 60 and above live
alone after their spouses have died.
Those widows are forced to avoid sex or even masturbation because
of norms imposed by society, he said.
Pansak said widows or women without sexual partners should engage
in sexual activities on their own by slightly massaging their
G-spot regularly to arouse the fluid that moistens their
vagina.
This is masturbation. But if you want to reach ejaculation, please
do it. Its good for you, he said.
Women with partners who have problems were advised to consult their
doctors and seek counselling to resolve the problems.
Its a kind of dual therapy, not an individual problem, said Prof
Dr Phanom Kateman, a psychiatrist at Siriraj.
People with sexual dysfunction can choose from psychological
therapy to medicinal treatment depending on what type of problems
they have, the doctor said.