London - If you need advice on fashion, relationships or just what to have for dinner, Gwyneth Paltrow is your woman.
Now she has explained the importance of sex in her life as she reaches 42.
And she told how she is more comfortable with her body as she gets older. “I believe, as cheesy as it sounds, in exercise, laughing, having sex, being yourself,” she told Women’s Health magazine. “I believe in having sex and I feel way more comfortable in a bathing suit now than I did 20 years ago!”
But the Oscar-winning actress, who dispenses advice on her lifestyle website Goop, may be different from other women her age.
Women often suffer from increasing insecurity in the bedroom as they get older, a survey has revealed.
The research also quashed the belief that the onset of the menopause – when women stop ovulating – lowers a woman’s sex drive. Many respondents said their libido had dipped years earlier.
Women say the four to ten years leading up to the menopause – called the perimenopause – also feature significant changes in their sex life, according to the poll.
The survey found women were at their most sexually confident between the ages of 21 and 30 because they were happy with their bodies and are energetic. But just ten years later many said they had become uninterested in sex.
The poll found that sexually, women were most unhappy between the ages of 41 and 45.
More than a third blamed this on a lack of energy, while 60 percent of those over 40 said they suffered from a low sex drive and no longer wanted to make love to their partners.
Others blamed it on having gained weight as they got older, and 54 percent said they simply did not have the motivation for sex.
There is also a strong link between the onset of pre-menopausal symptoms and the depletion of a women’s sex drive. More than a third said their perimenopause began when they were just 40.
The poll of 100 women between 40 and 55 was commissioned by online vitamin brand Healthspan to analyse attitudes to the perimenopause.
The news comes after researchers said this year that menopause symptoms could last up to 14 years. They found that half of women endure the uncomfortable and often distressing hormonal changes in their bodies for around seven years – and some for twice that time.
Referring to the Healthspan study, Dr Hilary Jones, the health editor of ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme, said: “The research showed that 61 percent of women are suffering with anxiety due to the symptoms of the perimenopause and that women in their fifties are especially struggling.
“Fluctuating hormones can lead to low mood, and three-quarters of women stated that they suffer from low mood.
“Over a third of those surveyed have had to adjust their lives to deal with the effects that the perimenopause has on their bodies.
“Trouble sleeping is a big problem, which further lends itself to mood swings and irritability. Crashing fatigue is something a quarter of women said they suffer from.”
Healthspan nutrition expert Dr Sarah Brewer said: “What’s shocking is that so many women are suffering and battling through middle age without help. I was surprised to see in the research that nearly half of women didn’t even know what the perimenopause is and that three-fifths haven’t sought help from their doctor.”
Psychotherapist Sally Brown said the onset of the menopause can also undermine the self-confidence that women have built up by their forties and fifties.
She said: “Over half the women said that they had lost their self-confidence.
“It’s not known why hormonal upheaval should have this effect, but it may be linked to the drop in oestrogen which helps make serotonin, the feel-good chemical in the brain. What’s surprising is how many are suffering in silence – 78 percent said they don’t discuss it, even with other women.”
Daily Mail