Married Couples' Sex Lives 'Rebound'—After 50 Years

It's no secret that most married couples have less sex as the years go by, but those who stick it out tend to see something of a romantic renaissance—it just takes five decades to get there. Researchers looking at 1,656 married adults ranging in age from 57 to 85 have found there is eventually an uptick in the frequency with which couples have sex. What's more, those in first marriages are having more sex than those who have remarried, report researchers from Louisiana State University, Florida State University, and Baylor University in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. However frequently or infrequently couples were engaging in sex, marriage order didn't appear to influence emotional satisfaction or physical pleasure.

"Growing old as a couple, with the experience and knowledge that come with that, may play a part," one researcher said in a Baylor University news release. "The expectation that the relationship will continue may give you more reason to invest in the relationship—including in sexual aspects of [it]." While the results about the sex lives of one of the fastest growing groups in the US proved "intriguing," particularly because it's a topic that has yet to be studied extensively, the researchers did point out that the 50-year second wind was a slight one, and that relatively few couples make it to 50 years to begin with, thus the sample size was small. (Some research has found that couples who are more equal tend to be happy but have less sex.)