The saying “use it or lose it” is a saying you hear as you age. And it also applies to certain aspects of your body.
Why You Should Keep Having Sex As You Age
As you age and your body naturally loses estrogen, this will cause the walls of your vagina to become thinner and drier, possibly resulting in pain and irritation during sex. In order to keep your vagina healthy, you need to use it.
Just as using your arms to lift weights helps keep your arms stronger and helps prevent osteoporosis, having sex keeps the blood flowing to the vaginal tissues, which keeps them healthier and helps prevent vaginal atrophy.
Common Signs of Vaginal Atrophy
Besides pain and irritation during sex, other symptoms of vaginal atrophy include:
- Vaginal discharge and dryness
- Frequent urination
- Frequent UTIs
- Genital itching
- Painful urination
If you believe you may already have some of the symptoms of vaginal atrophy, read What is Vaginal Atrophy and Can it Be Reversed? to find out other ways to treat vaginal atrophy.