Sex in your forties: 'My libido went through the roof,' says podcaster who is now in an open relationship
A podcaster has said that you can really enjoy sex later in life after her libido “went through the roof” in her forties.
Suzanne Noble, now 62, says that her forties were when she had “the most fun” with experimenting in the bedroom and called it “the best time”.
“For me, my forties – it was the best time. I was divorced and single,” she recalls. “I was having a huge amount of fun. My libido was through the roof. I was on high alert for having sex.”
Read more: How a woman can enjoy sex whatever her age
Noble claims that she was having sex daily or weekly in her forties, but that she had to “re-engage” with sex after going through the menopause in her fifties.
“I was going out with a much younger man. He was 33, I was 50. At that point I was still feeling sexy,” she says.
“As our relationship progressed, I started going through the menopause. I was getting hot flushes. My libido was not what it had been.”
Noble said she spent some years “grieving” her libido before rediscovering it in her late fifties and early sixties after meeting her ex-partner Bob in 2018.
“I got my sexy-self back and reengaged with sex,” she says, after meeting Bob on Tinder.
Noble later began to date her current partner Peter, who she now has an open relationship with.
“We talked about having an open relationship. We spoke openly about sex in later life. I know how I like it and don’t like it,” she says.
Read more: Why is my sex drive so high?
“As an older woman, aspects of how you have sex change. I’m really comfortable using lubricants. There’s nothing wrong with needing help. It’s important to communicate.”
Noble, from North London, now runs her podcast called Sex Advice for Seniors. She says she has sex an average of three times a month, and that she’s “not bothered” that she’s not as “orgasmic” as she was in her forties.
In a 2009 survey of 2,000 women, 77% said that their sex life was at its best in their forties, while 82% of those in their forties said that sex was just as important to them in their forties as it had been when they were younger.
A separate 2023 study from sexual wellness brand LELO found that most people in their forties and fifties are having the best sex of their lives, with 70% of those aged over 50 noticing significant positive changes to their sex lives.
Nearly one in five people said their sex drive had increased as they got older, while 19% said they were having sex once a week and one in 10 were having sex twice a week.
Read more: Menopause sex: The surprisingly hot truth
A further study from 2013 found that women grow increasingly satisfied with their sex lives after they turn 40.
Reasons for this increase in satisfaction can vary, factors can include feeling more comfortable with your body, receiving a surge in hormones before menopause, or having less stressors in your life.
Watch: Drew Barrymore: 'I still have no libido'
