Masturbation and Aging: What Changes, What Doesn’t, and Why It Still Matters The research on solo sexual activity in adults over 50, 60, and 70 — the health benefits, the stigma, and the numbers that might surprise you

There is a particular kind of silence that surrounds sexuality in older adults. Not the comfortable silence of privacy but the uncomfortable silence of a culture that has decided that older people do not — or should not — have sexual lives, and that has organized its public health messaging, its medical consultations, and its media representations accordingly.

The research has a different story to tell.

The first comprehensive national survey of sexual attitudes, behaviors, and problems among older adults in the United States found that most people ages 57 to 85 think of sexuality as an important part of life, and that the frequency of sexual activity declines only slightly from the 50s to the early 70s among those who are active. (NSHAP, University of Chicago, 2007; ScienceDaily)

A major European study involving 3,816 adults with an average age of 65 found that between 41% and 65% of men and 27% and 40% of women reported masturbating in the preceding month. (PMC, Prevalence of Masturbation Among Older Adults, 2022)

A study involving more than 3,000 women aged 60 and older confirmed a growing prevalence of masturbation and sex toy use in this population, and found that such use was associated with higher frequency of orgasm and positive health outcomes. (Menopause Society, 2025)

The people living inside the cultural silence around senior sexuality are not, in large numbers, actually living celibate lives. They are simply living them without the cultural acknowledgment, the medical support, or the public health information they deserve.

This article is an attempt to provide some of that.

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The Numbers: What Older Adults Are Actually Doing

Harvard Health Publications reports data from Indiana University’s comprehensive sexual behavior survey finding that most men (63%) and almost half of women (47%) in the 50 and over age group reported masturbating in the past year. A significant number of those 80 and older also reported masturbating. (Harvard Health, Sex in the Second Half)

The European study found that across four countries, between 41–65% of men and 27–40% of women aged 60–75 reported any masturbation in the preceding month. Satisfaction with sexual activity and attitudes related to disapproval were significant predictors of reported masturbation frequency in almost all countries and in both genders. (PMC, 2022)

A comprehensive literature review of 29 studies on older adult masturbation published between 1991 and 2021 found that masturbatory behaviors are an important part of older adult sexual health, though they decline in frequency across aging and increase in the absence of a spouse. (Tischer, 2022, Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University)

The picture that emerges from the data is clear: older adults masturbate in significant numbers across every decade studied, including the 80s. The frequency decreases with age, but the practice does not disappear. And among those who are not sexually active with a partner — due to death of a spouse, illness, or simply being single — solo sexual activity becomes more rather than less important as a component of sexual wellbeing.

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What Changes With Age

The Physiological Shifts

Aging brings real physiological changes to sexual function in both men and women, and honest information about these changes is part of what makes this article worth writing. The changes are not reasons to stop. They are reasons to adapt. (MindBodyHow, 2025)

In men, testosterone levels decline gradually from the mid-thirties onward. Erections may take longer to achieve and require more direct stimulation than they did at 25. The refractory period — the time needed between orgasms — increases. Ejaculatory force may diminish. These are normal changes, not failures. The capacity for orgasm and for sexual pleasure does not disappear with testosterone decline. It changes.

In women, menopause brings a reduction in estrogen that affects vaginal lubrication, elasticity, and tissue thickness. The result can be vaginal dryness and, for some women, discomfort during sexual activity including solo activity. These changes are addressable — lubricants, vaginal moisturizers, and, for some women, localized hormone therapy are all evidence-based options. The capacity for orgasm in women does not diminish with age in the way that erectile function can in men. Many women report that orgasms become easier to achieve in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, partly because they know their bodies better and partly because the anxieties that can impede orgasm earlier in life have diminished.

Use It or Lose It: The Evidence

One of the most consistent findings in the research on sexual aging is the relationship between sexual activity — including solo activity — and maintained sexual function. Decreased sexual activity was found in 2015 research published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism to be a cause, not an effect, of low testosterone levels in older men. The mechanism runs in both directions: low testosterone reduces sexual interest, but reduced sexual activity also lowers testosterone. (Health Digest, citing Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2015)

For women, regular sexual activity — including masturbation — maintains blood flow to genital tissue, which helps preserve vaginal health and reduces the atrophy associated with estrogen decline. Women who remain sexually active after menopause consistently show better maintained vaginal tissue health than those who do not. (MindBodyHow, 2025)

The research supports what the phrase “use it or lose it” has always suggested informally: sexual function is maintained through use. For older adults without partners, or whose partners are ill, or who simply prefer solo activity, masturbation is the primary mechanism by which this maintenance occurs.

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The Health Benefits: What the Research Shows

Prostate Health in Men

Research published in the British Journal of Urology International suggests that regular ejaculation in men over 50 may have a protective effect against prostate cancer. Researcher Polyxeni Dimitripoulos, whose 2009 study examined this relationship, explained the proposed mechanism: regular ejaculation flushes accumulated toxins from the prostate, potentially reducing cancer risk. The protective effect appears strongest in men in their 50s. (Health Digest, citing Dimitripoulos 2009 via Independent)

Cardiovascular Function

The cardiovascular benefits of sexual activity, including solo activity, extend into older adulthood. The heart rate elevation and vascular exercise associated with arousal and orgasm provide mild but real cardiovascular benefit — not equivalent to aerobic exercise but consistent with overall cardiovascular health maintenance. (MindBodyHow, 2025)

Cognitive Function

Research has found evidence that masturbation in older women is associated with improved cognitive function, specifically better word recall. The Menopause Society reported on a study of more than 3,000 women aged 60 and older confirming positive health outcomes associated with masturbation and sex toy use, including the cognitive benefit finding. (Menopause Society, 2025)

The likely mechanism is the neurochemical cascade of orgasm — oxytocin activity that supports neuroplasticity, increased cerebral blood flow, and the stress-reducing effects of endorphin release — all of which have documented positive effects on cognitive maintenance in older adults. (Vella, 2025)

Mental Health and Life Satisfaction

The literature review of 29 studies found that older adults who masturbate in the absence of partnered sexual activity have generally higher life satisfaction than those who are not sexually active at all. The finding is significant: solo sexual activity in the absence of a partner is better for life satisfaction than no sexual activity. (Tischer, 2022)

The neurochemical explanation is consistent with what the science of orgasm tells us generally: the dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphin release of orgasm reduces stress, improves mood, supports sleep, and produces the neurological conditions associated with wellbeing. These effects do not diminish with age. The chemistry is the same at 70 as it was at 30. (MindBodyHow, 2025)

Sleep

Sleep disruption is among the most common complaints of older adults, and the post-orgasm release of prolactin and the muscle relaxation that follows are consistently associated with improved sleep onset. For older adults dealing with insomnia, restlessness, or the sleep disruptions associated with menopause, solo sexual activity is a genuinely useful and entirely safe sleep aid with no side effects and no contraindications.

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The Stigma: Where It Comes From and What It Costs

The silence around senior sexuality does not exist because older people have stopped being sexual. It exists because the culture has decided they should have, and has organized its assumptions and its media representations around that decision.

The consequences of this stigma are not trivial. They include older adults who do not discuss sexual health concerns with their physicians because they expect to be dismissed. Physicians who do not raise sexual health in consultations with older patients because they assume it is no longer relevant. Long-term care facilities that do not have policies supporting the sexual privacy of residents. Adult children who are uncomfortable with their parents’ continued sexuality and communicate that discomfort in ways that produce shame.

The European study found that those believing sex is beneficial to older people were more likely to masturbate, while less permissive attitudes decreased the likelihood of reporting masturbation. The attitude shapes the behavior. The cultural message that older adults should not be sexual produces older adults who either suppress their sexuality or carry it in silence and shame. Neither outcome serves their health. (PMC, 2022)

The gender dimension is also worth naming. The stigma falls more heavily on older women than older men. An older man’s continued sexual interest is treated by the culture as evidence of vitality. An older woman’s continued sexual interest is treated as either invisible or undignified. The research does not support this distinction. Older women’s sexual health benefits from continued sexual activity — including solo activity — in ways that are well documented and that deserve the same respect given to older men’s.

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Adapting: Practical Considerations for Older Adults

Lubrication

Vaginal dryness is among the most common barriers to comfortable sexual activity in older women and has a straightforward solution. Water-based and silicone-based lubricants are widely available, inexpensive, and effective. Vaginal moisturizers used regularly maintain tissue health independent of sexual activity. For women with more significant atrophy, localized vaginal estrogen is available by prescription and is effective at restoring tissue health without the systemic effects of full hormone therapy.

Erectile Function

For older men experiencing difficulty with erection, masturbation itself is among the mechanisms that support maintained erectile function. The physiological exercise of arousal and erection maintains blood flow to penile tissue and supports the vascular health that erection depends on. Medications including PDE5 inhibitors are widely available for men who want additional support, and consultation with a physician is appropriate for men whose erectile difficulty is significant.

Mobility and Comfort

Arthritis, joint pain, and mobility limitations can make sexual activity physically uncomfortable in ways that require adaptation rather than abandonment. Position changes, supportive cushions, and devices designed for people with mobility limitations are all available and legitimate tools. The goal is adaptation, not cessation.

Sex Toys

The Menopause Society study of more than 3,000 women over 60 confirmed a growing prevalence of sex toy use in this population associated with positive health outcomes. Sex toys are not a young person’s domain. They are tools for sexual pleasure that are available to any adult who wants them, and their use in older adulthood is associated with better sexual function and higher orgasm frequency. (Menopause Society, 2025)

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Long-Term Care: The Invisible Population

Older adults living in long-term care facilities represent a population whose sexual needs are almost entirely absent from public health conversation. The research documents that residents of care facilities continue to have sexual desires and, where circumstances permit, sexual activity — including solo activity. The literature review found that different living situations including long-term care facilities significantly affect masturbatory behavior, but primarily through opportunity and privacy constraints rather than desire. (Tischer, 2022)

Long-term care facilities vary significantly in how they address resident sexuality. Many have no formal policies. Staff are frequently undertrained and uncomfortable. Residents may lack privacy. The result is that a population that continues to have sexual needs is routinely left without support for them — not because the needs have disappeared but because the facility and the culture have not caught up to the research.

This is a public health gap that deserves considerably more attention than it receives.

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The Takeaway

Older adults masturbate. In significant numbers, across every decade of older adulthood including the 80s, they continue to engage in solo sexual activity and to benefit from it. The health benefits are documented across multiple domains: prostate health, cardiovascular function, cognitive maintenance, mental health, life satisfaction, and sleep. The physiological changes of aging require adaptation, not abandonment.

The cultural silence around this reality does not serve older adults. It produces shame where there should be information, avoidance where there should be medical discussion, and unnecessary suffering from problems that have straightforward solutions.

Sexuality does not have an expiration date. The research has established this clearly across decades of study. The conversation around it is simply overdue.

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Sources

Harvard Health Publications. (2010). Sex in the Second Half. Health.Harvard.edu.

Health Digest. (2024). What Happens to Your Body When You Masturbate After the Age of 50. HealthDigest.com.

Menopause Society. (2025). If You’re Over 60 and Playing With Sex Toys, You’re Not Alone. Menopause.org.

MindBodyHow. (2025). How Masturbation Benefits Health for Men in Their 50s & 60s. MindBodyHow.blog.

PMC. (2022). Prevalence of Masturbation and Associated Factors Among Older Adults in Four European Countries. PMC8917107. Archives of Sexual Behavior.

ScienceDaily. (2007). First Comprehensive National Survey Charts Sexual Behavior Among Older Adults. ScienceDaily.com. Citing NSHAP/University of Chicago/New England Journal of Medicine.

Tischer, B. (2022). Masturbatory Behaviors Among Older Adult Populations: A Literature Review. Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato, Vol. 22, Article 2.

Vella. (2025). Sex and Mental Health: How Orgasms Boost Brain Health. VellaBio.com.

Dimitripoulos, P. (2009). Ejaculation Frequency and the Risk of Prostate Cancer. British Journal of Urology International.

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. (2015). Sexual Activity and Testosterone Levels in Older Men.

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