I'm 59 and 港／避難所't 攻撃する，衝突する menopause - and it's all 負かす／撃墜する to 広大な／多数の／重要な sex!

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On nights out with my girlfriends, there comes a point in the evening where I consciously keep 静かな: that moment, after a couple of glasses, when the floodgates open and they animatedly discuss hot 紅潮／摘発するs, sleeplessness, lethargy and night sweats.

I can’t join in with all this menopause-関係のある chatter because, にもかかわらず 存在 59, I’m yet to go through the dreaded change.

I still have periods and have never experienced a hot 紅潮／摘発する, never mind any other symptom of hormonal change.

It has long puzzled me why I’ve seemingly dodged the 弾丸. So, last week’s 研究, which said 正規の／正選手 sex might help to defer the menopause, was nothing short of a 発覚.

Vicky Rhodes, 59, (pictured) who hasn't experienced menopause, 明らかにする／漏らすd her intimate 関係 with a younger man as 研究 示唆するs 正規の／正選手 sex could 阻止する the menopause?

At last, I think I know what’s been going on, because the years when I might have 推定する／予想するd to go through the menopause were taken up with a 熱烈な 事件／事情／状勢.

For ten years, I was intimate almost daily with a handsome man a １０年間 my junior. I can only guess that’s what has kept my hormones seemingly 不変の ― and the menopause at bay.

The basic theory, scientists say, is that if you have a 十分な 性の life, you’re keeping your 団体／死体 and hormones active, so you stay fertile for longer.

専門家s asked nearly 3,000 women ― who were 跡をつけるd for ten years ― how often they had sex. Women of any age who had sex each week were 28 per cent いっそう少なく likely to have been through the menopause by age 51, compared with those who had sex いっそう少なく than once a month.

Scientists postulated that, if a woman is not having sex and there is no chance of pregnancy, the 団体／死体 ‘chooses’ to stop 投資するing energy into ovulation, and enters menopause.

The menopause is 診断するd when you 港／避難所’t had a period for 12 months, and usually occurs between the ages of 45 and 55, with the 普通の／平均（する） age 存在 51.

支援する in 2009, when I first met the man, Jack, I was 49 and he was 39. Although I was yet to have any symptoms, I was sure the menopause was 堅固に on the horizon.

We met by chance in a country 着せる／賦与するing 蓄える／店 he owned in Epsom, 近づく a friend I was visiting.

Vicky (pictured) was age 49 when she met Jack, 39, at his?country 着せる／賦与するing 蓄える／店 in Epsom while shopping for a Barbour jacket?

I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to buy a Barbour jacket and, from the moment I walked in, he couldn’t take his 注目する，もくろむs off me. As I left, he said with a cheeky grin: ‘Perhaps I can take you out for dinner some time?’

He was far from my usual sporty, dark-haired type. Blond, with 有望な blue 注目する，もくろむs, he seemed a typical ‘控訴’ ― 法人組織の／企業の, buried in paperwork. After having terrible luck with men, I was flattered, so scribbled 負かす／撃墜する my number.

I never dreamed it, but this first 会合 would lead to the most profoundly caring and 実行するing 関係 I have ever had. And in my 50s, too!

Jack and I were very 熱烈な. Every time we met, I would be on a high. I felt like a 十代の少年少女, with a bounce in my step ― いつかs やめる literally, as I’d leap into his 武器 when I saw him.

In the years when many women are felled by the menopause, I was having the time of my life with a fabulously caring man.

But surely, I would think, The Change will be coming soon, and everything will be different?

Twice 離婚d Vicky, said she and Jack would spend passion-packed long 週末s in フラン, Holland, Scotland and Ireland (とじ込み／提出する image)

Still, time went on and nothing happened, にもかかわらず my 恐れるs. Jack and I spent passion-packed long 週末s in フラン, Holland, Scotland and Ireland. When we were apart ― which was rare ― we kept in constant 接触する by text and phone.

Jack made me feel sexy whether I was in wellies or a negligee. And while some of that was sheer chemistry ― I could almost feel the 空気／公表する crackle when we were together ― part was surely 負かす／撃墜する to how thoughtful and attentive he was from the moment I met him.

He phoned me within days of swapping numbers and our first date was in a pub he chose in Amberley village, West Sussex, with みごたえのある 見解（をとる）s over the South 負かす／撃墜するs and the River Arun in the distance. ‘I want to know everything abou t you,’ he said as we held 手渡すs across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

I felt so comfortable I did all the things they say you shouldn’t do on a first date ― 株ing my hopes, 恐れるs and 詳細（に述べる）s of my previous car 衝突，墜落 関係s.

Up until Jack, my 関係s had been 悲惨な. I had never felt loved or special.

My first marriage, 老年の 23, ended 不正に not long after I’d had my daughter, Naomi, now 36. And my second marriage, 老年の 29, also failed acrimoniously ― the only good thing to come of it was my son, Josh, now 29. Really, then, Jack was the first man to wake me up sexually, just as the love lives of other women my age 攻撃する，衝突する the doldrums.

Vicky (pictured) said she's 納得させるd that the 正規の／正選手 性の activity she had throughout her 50s has kept her from any sort of midlife change?

I don’t know whether my friends’ sex lives have 苦しむd because of the menopause ― it’s not really something we would discuss ― but I do know they have been through hell because of its symptoms. Many have had to 落ちる 支援する on HRT. Truly I feel for them, and consider myself blessed to have escaped so far.

As for how they feel about my midlife renaissance, 井戸／弁護士席, my good friends are just happy I 設立する a loving 関係 ― one not only based on physical attraction, but a 社債 固く結び付けるd by 信用 that 許すd me truly to enjoy 存在 with a man.

I 港／避難所’t been to see a doctor about my 非，不，無-existent menopause ― would you 捜し出す 医療の advice if you felt as wonderful as I do?

My periods have always been erratic and remain so. But, to this day, I 港／避難所’t had a 匂いをかぐ of any sort of midlife change, something I’m now 納得させるd must be to do with the years of 正規の／正選手 性の activity I’ve had throughout my 50s.

You might 井戸／弁護士席 think that perhaps the 推論する／理由 I feel so sexually contented is because I’m yet to experience some of the more troublesome 味方する-影響s of the menopause ― from 共同の aches to moodiness ― which, let’s 直面する it, are hardly the recipe for sexiness. That it was because I didn’t have any menopausal symptoms that I felt so happy in the bedroom, rather than the 活動／戦闘 of love-making itself 延期するing the menopause.

Vicky 明らかにする／漏らすd her mother went through the menopause around age 51 (とじ込み／提出する image)

When the NHS reviewed the 最新の 研究, it said: ‘The 熟考する／考慮する only shows a link between how often women had sex and their age at menopause. It cannot 証明する that having more sex 直接／まっすぐに 原因（となる）s a later menopause.’

You also might wonder whether there are other 推論する／理由s why my menopause has not yet happened.

Genetic factors are known to 影響（力） the time you experience The Change: what age your mother had it is said to play a part.

But my mother went through the menopause around age 51, so hers was not 延期するd at all.

Lifestyle factors are also said to be important. The menopause is 必然的な when our oestrogen and progesterone levels 減少（する）, but diet and 演習 can 延期する it.

Doctors believe 演習 may 延期する the menopause by 上げるing 血 flow to the ovaries. I still get up at 6am to go to the gym, and at the 週末s I cycle for miles.

I’ve never smoked and only indulge in the 時折の gin and tonic; I have a breakfast of porridge and blueberries and always cook simple, fresh food, such as 取調べ／厳しく尋問するd salmon or chicken, and lots of salad and veg. I still feel sexy, 確信して and proud of my size 10 人物／姿／数字, but, then, I work hard to keep myself fit.

Vicky and Jack ended their 関係 last year, she 収容する／認めるs 存在 curious if it will 先触れ（する） the arrival of her menopause (とじ込み／提出する image)

When my daughter gives birth in a few months’ time, she’s jokingly said I’ll be 愛称d ‘Granny Go-Go’.

So all this may have 延期するd my menopause, but surely the delightful romance I enjoyed throughout my 50s must have played its part, too.

Sadly, Jack and I are no longer together. We 分裂（する） up last year after his workload 増加するd and I got elected as a 地区 議員 for my 地元の Bognor Regis and Littlehampton area, which took up a lot of my spare time. Slowly, we drifted apart. I’ve yet to have another 関係.

I’m now wondering whether the end of my 熱烈な romance with Jack will also, finally, 先触れ（する） the arrival of my menopause.

All I can say is that if making love is 重要な to 突き破るing off The Change, then I’m all for it.

How to keep passion 燃やすing after 50?

Rowan Pelling, former editor of Erotic Review, 申し込む／申し出s the に引き続いて advice . . .

Like many who 令状 about sex and 関係s, I’ve long 促進するd a ‘use it or lose it’ mentality ― believing healthy 性の 機能（する）／行事 can be optimised by 正規の／正選手 physical intimacy.

Now comes this 熟考する／考慮する 示唆するing 正規の／正選手 sex may play a part in 延長するing menstruation. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this.

When I had my second son 老年の 40, I engaged an 独立した・無所属 midwife who brimmed over with folk 知恵. When she told me she was still having periods 老年の 58, I 表明するd surprise, but she said late menopause was normal for midwives as they were surrounded by babies and hormones ― before 追加するing that keeping sexually active did the trick, too, as it made your 団体／死体 hope it might squeeze in one more pregnancy.

I 公式文書，認めるd that my friends who were still having periods in their 中央の-50s were often the ones who seemed most loved-up with their partners. So I told my own beloved that he was 義務 bound to keep making love to me ‘for the sake of my wellbeing!’

Now, here I am, 老年の 52, with no 重要な 調印するs of the menopause. I had my hormones checked recently and my levels of oestrogen and FSH (follicle 刺激するing hormone), both 必須の 生物学の 成分s for pregnancy, were high ― which surprised me as my mother had stopped menstruating by 50.

Was this 負かす／撃墜する to me having 正規の／正選手 sex? It’s hard to say. But here are some practical ways to keep your 性の 機能（する）／行事 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing in midlife . . .

Rowan Pelling who is the former editor of Erotic Review, advises taking HRT 早期に to make the 過度期の 行う／開催する／段階 smoother (とじ込み／提出する image)

TAKE HRT EARLY

If you feel any changes in your cycle, 性の 願望（する） or general wellbeing in midlife, it’s useful to ask your GP to take a 血 見本 to 査定する／（税金などを）課す your hormone levels.

Many women 報告（する）／憶測 苦しむing from 不景気 or insomnia and are 定める／命ずるd antidepressants when the true 原因（となる） i s fluctuating hormone levels.

Such symptoms can be 演説（する）／住所d by cutting 負かす／撃墜する on irritant factors, such as caffeine, alcohol and a 欠如（する） of 演習, or taking HRT.

Earlier 介入 can make this 過度期の 行う／開催する／段階 far smoother.

NATURAL VA VA VOOM

Last year, when my energy was flagging and I wondered whether my hormones were to 非難する, I visited the London Hormone Clinic.

My oestrogen was high, but they 示唆するd I take a DHEA 補足（する）. Also known as the ‘hormone of 青年’, DHEA is produced 自然に by your adrenal （分泌する為の）腺, but levels 減少（する） after the age of 30. Menopause 専門家s believe it 上げるs energy levels.

A couple of friends also 断言する by testosterone gel for 上げるing libido ― but you should 協議する your GP before trying this.

Rowan 示唆するs telling your partner that 正規の／正選手 sex is likely to help 突き破る off The Change (とじ込み／提出する image)

TRY HORNY GOAT WEED

Herbal 専門家s recommend some natural 治療（薬）s, such as 黒人／ボイコット cohosh root, dong quai and red clover, for menopausal symptoms.

If you just want to 演説（する）／住所 libido 問題／発行するs, try epimedium, also known as Horny Goat 少しのd, which comes in tablet form. It’s also taken to help wit h 疲労，（軍の）雑役 and 不景気.

SQUEEZE AND LIFT!

As you get older, pelvic muscle トン tends to 減少（する）, which can lead to prolapse and incontinence ― factors in women 拒絶するing sex.

Do pelvic 床に打ち倒す 演習s daily. There are many gadgets to help ― ask in a 地元の Boots.

COMMUNICATE

Your other half has a 決定的な 役割 to play in your menopause.

You could start by telling your partner 正規の／正選手 sex is likely to help 突き破る off The Change. It’s good for them to know fluctuations in libido are about hormones, rather than you feeling turned off by them.

宣伝

Interview by Sherron Mayes