strokes

WHAT’S THE BEST REASON TO STAY HEALTHY?  Sure, no one wants cancer, diabetes, strokes or heart attacks.  But that never seems to be enough to  get people to make the changes they need.  How about THIS for  incentive?  Take better care of yourself and have a better sex life and  more of it.  Almost 5 TIMES as much more!!  So the next time you’re  thinking about pulling through the fast food drive thru, give some REAL thought  to what you’ll be missing…Instead, opt for something along the  paleo-Mediterranean lines.  More olive oil, fresh fruits and veggies,  no dairy, lot so spices, exercise.

_Sex,  health, and years of sexually active life gained due to good health: evidence  from two US population based cross sectiona_
(http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/340/mar09_2/c810) Sex, health, and years of sexually active life gained due to good health: evidence from two US population based cross sectional surveys of ageing.

Stacy Tessler Lindau, associate  professor

1,2, Natalia  Gavrilova, senior research associate1
1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Chicago,  5841 S
Maryland Avenue, MC2050, Chicago, IL 60637, USA, and Chicago Core on Biomeasures in Population-Based Aging Research, University of Chicago Centre on Demography and Economics of Aging, 2 Department of Medicine, Section  of Geriatrics, University of Chicago.

Correspondence to: S Tessler Lindau _slindau@uchicago.edu_ (mailto:slindau@uchicago.edu) Objectives To examine the relation between health  and several dimensions of sexuality and to estimate years of sexually  active life across sex and health groups in middle aged and older  adults. Design Cross sectional study. Setting Two samples representative of the US population: MIDUS (the national survey of midlife development in the United States, 1995-6) and NSHAP (the national social life, health and ageing project, 2005-6). Participants 3032 adults aged 25 to 74 (1561 women, 1471 men) from the midlife cohort (MIDUS) and 3005 adults aged 57 to 85 (1550 women, 1455 men) from the later life cohort (NSHAP). Main outcome measures Sexual activity, quality of sexual life, interest in sex, and average remaining years of sexually active life, referred to as sexually active life expectancy. Results Overall, men were more likely than women to be sexually active, report a good quality sex life, and be interested in sex. These gender differences increased with age and were greatest among the 75 to 85 year old group: 38.9% of men compared with 16.8% of women were sexually active, 70.8% versus 50.9% of those who were sexually active had a good quality sex life, and
41.2% versus 11.4% were interested in sex. Men and women reporting very good or excellent health were more likely to be sexually active compared with their peers in poor or fair health: age adjusted odds ratio 2.2 (P<0.01) for men and 1.6 (P<0.05) for women in the midlife study and 4.6 (P<0.001) for men and  2.8 (P<0.001) for women in the later life study. Among sexually  active people, good health was also significantly associated with  frequent sex (once or more weekly) in men (adjusted odds ratio 1.6 to  2.1), with a good quality sex life among men and women in the midlife  cohort (adjusted odds ratio 1.7), and with interest in sex. People in  very good or excellent health were 1.5 to 1.8 times more likely to  report an interest in sex than those in poorer health. At age 30,  sexually active life expectancy was 34.7 years for men and 30.7 years  for women compared with 14.9 to 15.3 years for men and 10.6 years for  women at age 55. This gender disparity attenuated for
people with a  spouse or other intimate partner. At age 55, men in very good or excellent health on average gained 5-7 years of sexually active life compared with their peers in poor or fair health. Women in very  good or excellent health gained 3-6 years compared with women in poor or fair health.

Conclusion Sexual activity, good quality sexual life, and  interest in sex were higher for men than for women and this gender  gap widened with age. Sexual activity, quality of sexual life,  and interest in sex were positively associated with health in  middle age and later life. Sexually active life expectancy was  longer for men, but men lost more years of sexually active life  as a result of poor health than women.