Analysis: Women who have more sex may enter the menopause later

Megan Arnot (UCL Anthropology) discusses a new study conducted with Professor Ruth Mace (UCL Anthropology) which found that women's sexual behaviour is connected with menopause timing. Globally, on average, women experience the menopause at around the age of 50. But there's a great deal of variation in this age both within and between countries. In recent years, scientists have begun to uncover factors that influence this variation, with increased smoking and an early first period being linked to an earlier age of natural menopause. But our new study has uncovered that women's sexual behaviour is also connected with menopause timing. We found that women who had sex at least weekly or monthly were less likely to enter into the menopause throughout the duration of the 11-year study, compared to women who had engaged in sexual activity less than monthly. The women were, on average, 45 years-old at the start of the study and were mostly married or in a relationship.