Psychology Today51%
Do Life Happenings Make Sex Less Appetizing? 69%
By Lucas Reyes Prieto PhD91% MSW68%
7/18/2026, 10:11:50 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 23 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Hasty Generalization, and False Dilemma, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 52.1% saturation with 286 hits. Analysis detected 1,431 faulty-reasoning hits from 549 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 63% and a BS Rank of 69% (5,577 of 17,815 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 68.70% of the article peer group.
Sexuality is a complex topic, and this complexity can continue throughout the lifespan.
As a sexual health researcher focusing on aging individuals, I have explored several different research questions about sex, including sexual satisfaction and frequency of sex.
We know there is a wide range of older adults who desire and do engage in sexual activity well into their older years, contrary to myths about sex and aging.
At the same time, some older adults are not interested in sex at all, which is equally as valid.
However, I could not stop thinking about something that recently came up during a catch-up with my mid-30s and 40s social circle when the subject of sex arose.
I heard their feelings of external and internal pressures continue to be sexual, even though they were going through some time-consuming life happenings, such as chronic illnesses, keeping up with bills, taking care of their children, or just trying to unplug from seemingly endless worldly stressors.
This made me wonder: Could these pressures be felt by older adults as well, even when life gets hard?
For older adults, life can be just as challenging or even more so to navigate, as they commonly endure difficulties such as physical ailments or extreme loneliness, both of which can ramp up as they age.
On the flip side, older adults may have more free time, may be helping with grandchildren, and may be traveling to exotic spots they once couldn’t take off for—plus everyday mundane tasks like grocery shopping, finishing knitting that blanket promised to a best friend, or trying to catch a midday nap.
All these life happenings may take priority over “sexy time."
Also, if we look at how life has shaped a person, being sexual could have been a huge part of their identity when they were younger.
Now, at an older age, pressures to fulfill this identity may continue.
Furthermore, as they age, adjustments to sexuality routines might need to be made to meet the individual or couple where they are.
Sociologists Heidi Lyons and David Warner recently published an article (2026) in The Journal of Sex Research in this area, finding that such changes do not necessarily lead to an automatic decline in sexual expression.
This is a fascinating finding which supports the idea that sex is multilayered and individualized, no matter one's age.
While there is emerging research that explores this line of inquiry for older adults, what is interesting to me is to delve even further into the research on how everyday life factors motivate or demotivate an older adult in pursuing sexual activity later in life—or not.
This calls for a need to provide more space and normalize how tough life can be for older adults (not to mention issues like stigma and ageism) and to realize that things can change.
How do older adults continue to grow within and in relationships as needs look different at this stage of their sexual lives?
There are more questions for us to explore: Do you feel pressure to be sexual like your younger self, or are you still raring to go as ever?
Does life make it harder for you to have sex or are you getting frisky even when the laundry machine buzzes?
Analysis
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