Should we have sex because we are middle-aged or older? What female doctors teach us in “Textbook of Adult Sexuality.”

Sex can be enjoyed at any age. And being able to have sex is evidence of good health. An American study found that people who have sex at least once a week have lower mortality rates and less heart disease. Those who have sex regularly have a 69% lower cancer mortality rate. Sex is closely linked to health.

Dr. Chieko is an obstetrician/gynecologist and YouTuber. She also says in her recently published book, “A Woman Doctor’s Textbook on Sexuality for Adults” (Nitto Shoin Honsha) that “having sex is very good for your physical and mental health, even if you are middle-aged or older. We asked Dr. Chieko why it is good for physical and mental health to have sex even in middle age, as well as the physical changes that come to middle-aged and older men and what they should keep in mind when having sex.

Middle-aged men and women lack sexual knowledge.

Dr. Chieko’s motivation for writing this book was her wish that middle-aged men and women would have more correct sexual knowledge. She said that the middle-aged and older generation, which has had few routes to sexual knowledge other than systematic learning about sex at school, tends to lack information and knowledge in general, which causes many problems and prevents them from enjoying sex.

Some of the women who come to our outpatient clinic have never seen or touched their own genitals. There was also a woman who came to see us saying, ‘I had sex with a new partner after a long time, and it hurt like hell, even though it was fine when I was younger.

This is a natural phenomenon that occurs as women age, but it is not widely recognized. Some men also feel rejected when a woman refuses to have sex with them because of the pain. I sometimes think that such knowledge is not shared between men and women, making it difficult for them to have a good relationship with their partners.

Perhaps due in part to this lack of knowledge about the physical changes that come with aging, middle-aged Japanese men and women are not having sex. According to a survey by medical products manufacturer JEX Corporation, 35.9% of men in their 40s, 45.3% in their 50s, and 62.2% in their 60s have not had sex for a year or more. For women, 46.8% are in their 40s, 65.8% in their 50s, and 69.4% in their 60s. Furthermore, sexlessness among married couples is evident across a wide age range, with data showing that 51.9% of married couples between the ages of 20 and 69 were sexless in 2008.