Marriage is a funny thing.  How you view it is drastically different if you are a teenager or youth with stars in your eyes compared to your vision of marriage when you have been ensconced in the practice for 20-30 years and looking toward a life in retirement as a married couple.  Baby boomers have experienced every aspect of marriage from that early idealistic stage through divorces, various redefinitions of marriage and now taking their marriages into their retirement years.  It may be that this next transition of marriage will bring as many changes to that special relationship as any that have gone before.

How you view marriage as you move toward your retirement years without a doubt depends on how marriage has gone for you over the decades.  If marriages are rocked with difficulty, separations and other woes, retirement can bring a new dimension to that tension.  On the other hand, part of the commission of retirement is to begin to seek resolution of life’s struggles so working together with each other in the context of marriage can bring tremendous healing in this phase of life.

Each era of life seems to bring a new opportunity to define marriage and how it will be an important part of life.  When the baby boomer generation became parents, the shift was notable as retailers responded to their emphasis on being good moms and dads and away from youthful issues to some extent.  Then as baby boomers moved through parenting and into the empty nest phase of life, that seemed to bring as many challenges as when that nest filled up with children decades before.

There is no question that real life in the context of a very real and functional marriage, even with the problems that brings is also a huge resource for us throughout life’s journey.  While sometimes the romance can escape from the marriage relationship if life brings struggles and as our bodies go through changes, that partnership and intimacy of relationship is an incredible resource for coping with the big changes all baby boomers have had to face over the years.

This is the good thing about hanging in there with that marriage until you get to the stage of life most baby boomers are moving toward in this decade.  The things that can rob a marriage of romance during the working part of your married years are the coming of children, the hard work of raising them, keeping a career moving forward in the tough business settings we have experienced in the last three decades and seeing your own relationship evolve under that kind of “pressure cooker” environment. 

But a significant amount of those pressures begin to lift when you are able to perhaps scale back the work life, enjoy the fruits of your labors and let the kids get out on their own.  So that side of the pre-retirement years can actually be a fertile setting for a new romantic life between husband and wife to spring up.  Many couples, as they leave the world of parenting behind, experience such late in life romantic rebirths.  And this kind of late springtime in your relationship with your long time spouse can bring the birth of new creativity in many parts of your life making it one of the happiest phases of life for you and your husband or wife.

A marriage gets tested throughout youth and middle age and marriages that survive do so because of mutual support and the ability to accept the other member of the marriage and compromise.  Since these traits will be well established in your relationship as you move into your fifties and sixties together, they will be a continuous resource to you as you face retirement issues, dealing with being a grandparent and being wise counsel for children who are facing life’s struggles for the first time.

But baby boomers should not be surprised if they see their marriages continue to change, grow and mature in new directions as each partner explores this phase of life for the first time as well.  A marriage is a living thing so we can take joy from seeing it become something new each new decade as, as we have done often in the past, we start defining marriage all over again.

While a person’s mind may still want to have a strong and active sex life the body may not always be able to comply. There are some prescription medications out there that have proven to offer those over 60 help with such issues. For example those with diabetes or arthritis may find that they are in too much pain or don’t have enough energy for sex.

However, with medication to control their diabetes and a good diet their energy levels increase. There are medications for arthritis too that can prevent the joints from swelling up. This means a person can go about activities including sex and not be in constant pain. It may be something that younger generations take for granted, but when you are physically in pain it can be almost impossible to enjoy the pleasures of sex.

One of the most common types of prescription drugs that men use to help them enjoy sex is Viagra. This is a type of pill that a man takes when he is mentally excited to have sex but the penis isn’t getting or maintaining an erection. Many men have found Viagra and similar products have allowed them to have a very enjoyable sex life once again. Their age hasn’t been able to stop them from making this important element part of their normal lifestyle.

The pill known as Cialis has also become very popular. This is because a man can take it and then be able to maintain erections when he is ready over the course of the next 36 hours. This means you don’t have to plan the act of lovemaking such as you do with Viagra and similar types of prescription medications. It allows the process to be more natural and many men really enjoy having that control over their sexual activities.

There are similar types of prescription medication for women as well. One huge problem for them after menopause is a decrease in the hormone estrogen. As a result they may find they have very little interest in sex. Even if they engage in the act, they just aren’t getting the level of pleasure out of it as they once did. Estrogen pills can be prescribed to help a woman gain her libido back.

Prescription medications may be a good option for you if you are older and you really want to improve your sex life. You will need to talk to your doctor about it so a complete assessment can be performed. Identifying the true reasons why you struggle to get an erection or why you aren’t enjoying sexual activity is important so be honest with your answers.

There are certainly plenty of prescription medications offered today to help those over 60 be able to continue with a healthy and satisfying sex life. Keep in mind that some of them are a quite expensive though. There are also some side effects associated with each of them to be ready for. You may have to experiment with a variety of different types of prescription medications before you find the one that helps you get to the level of sexual activity you want in your life.

Prescription medications aren’t the answer for everyone though. There many be too many health issues for you to consider using them. You may also find that the various side effects also make it difficult for you to enjoy sex. Never use prescription medications for someone else because you are too embarrassed to talk to your doctor about it.

You do owe it to yourself though to see if there is medication that can significantly improve your sex life into your 60’s and beyond. There are plenty of people out there in this age group and beyond that find sex more enjoyable now than any other time in their life. Being able to continue engaging in the activity helps to keep them both healthy and happy.