Menopause impacting your sex life? Here's how lube can help
There is a prevailing myth that sex after a certain age isn’t good or that older people in general don’t really have sex. According to a poll by the Sex Education and Council of Canada, sex is actually really important to ageing folks, even those well into their 80s.
This stigma is unhelpful for everyone. But where does it start? A key factor to this myth is menopause, which signals to some the beginning of the end of youth.
Typically, menopause begins for a person in their late-40s to mid-50s, and is marked as such when someone doesn’t have a period for 12 straight months. Menopause gets a bad cultural rap for bringing on hot flashes, vaginal dryness, vaginal discomfort, and night sweats. A lot of these symptoms occur in the perimenopause phase, which is before true menopause, when there’s a lot of irregularity of menstruation.
Let’s focus on one myth of the menopausal era and sex: you can’t have great sex. This is absolutely untrue! As our elders show us, we can have a high sex drive well into our 80s and beyond. But what is true is that, as we shift stages in our lives - physical, emotional, and even mental changes might impact how we engage with sex. Navigating through these changes may require tools and tips to spice up how we have sex.
Here, we’ll break down some common challenges of menopause and sex, and how an aid like lubricant can help make a good sex life a great one.
Why lube can make sex great during menopause
Incorporating lubricant into your sex life is a good idea in any case. Lubricant isn’t just a solution to a problem in sex: it can be a necessary tool for arousal before and during our sexual encounters. Our bodies naturally produce wetness when we’re aroused in prep for sex but adding K-Y® LUBRICANT - Naturals* can help enhance things.
Lubricant is a key tool to add to the rotation for those whose sex life is impacted by menopause, which may include vaginal dryness and discomfort among other symptomatic considerations, as well as a low libido.
Vaginal dryness or pain occurs when the body isn’t producing enough wetness, sometimes caused by a decrease of estrogen. Hormones impact our bodies in all sorts of different ways. Even if you’re in menopause and not experiencing discomfort during sex or vaginal dryness, adding lubricant to the mix may still help promote more arousal during foreplay and even penetrative sex.
*Ensure this product is right for you. Always read and follow the product label.
How to incorporate lube and experiment
Our libidos can dip for a variety of reasons, chief among them emotional or mental health concerns. During menopause, this can be especially true because the body is going through a pretty big change. It’s important to, as much as possible, embrace the change and tune out the stigmas around having a great sex life as you age.
While using lubricant to enhance arousal is a primary reason to incorporate it into your sex life, it’s also sexy and fun to use for a variety of sexual experiments to amp your libido.
Have a kink? Lube can be used as a part of that play with a partner.
Want to try anal sex? Lube is absolutely wonderful to use here.
New sex positions? Use lube like K-Y® LUBRICANT - Naturals® Moisture+ Intimate Gel* for a smooth path to orgasm.
Communicate with your partner about how your body is changing and that it may have different needs. Menopause doesn’t need to prevent you from having a great sex life; just make sure you’re using some of the best tools for it.
*Ensure this product is right for you. Always read and follow the product label.