It’s the age when – with an empty nest and time to spare – you might expect most women over 45 to finally find time to enjoy themselves in bed.
But a new Mail on Sunday survey reveals that they would rather have a shopping spree or sunshine holiday than sex.
The startling evidence comes in a riveting sex survey carried out exclusively for today’s You magazine.
A new Mail on Sunday survey reveals that women over 45 would rather have a shopping spree or sunshine holiday than sex
Asked if they would rather give up shopping or sex, 59 per cent of those surveyed chose sex, with only 41 per cent saying they could do without their retail therapy.
And when it came to a choice of sex or holidays, a huge 75 per cent put sex second behind their sunshine break.
However, the results of You magazine’s 2018 Sex Survey also show that a clear majority of women in their 40s and 50s are happier with their sex lives now than they were in their 20s.
One of those is Good Morning Britain’s Kate Garraway, You Magazine’s new contributing editor, who reveals she finds lovemaking so much more enjoyable in her 50s that she and husband Derek Draper took a two-week challenge to supercharge their sex life.
The mother-of-two says: ‘It involves having sex every day for 14 days, whether it’s convenient or not. It forced us to make time to be intimate, which I think is the key to a happy marriage.
‘In mid-life, with all its pressures, spontaneity can be hard to come by and sex gets squeezed out, so the commitment to daily romance pushes sex back to the centre of your life.’
Kate, 51, adds: ‘Women over 45 are far more interested in sex – and are more adventurous in bed – than our culture would have us believe. Quite simply, sex in your 40s and 50s can be the best of your life.’
The findings also reveal that, whatever primetime TV dramas such as Dr Foster might suggest, Britain is not a nation of love rats.
Only six per cent of women in long-term relationships said they had cheated, while 86 per cent believed their other half had been faithful.
Of the 2,000 women questioned, a whopping 95 per cent said they would opt for true love over great sex
And despite the box-office and bookshop success of Fifty Shades Of Grey, wild experimentation and outrageous fantasies do not feature on most women’s wishlists, while porn is regarded as a turn-off.
Even though shopping and holidays trump sex for many in this age group, the survey shows that British women in mid-life treasure a relationship based on trust and honesty, with romance and conversation right up there with physical passion.
Of the 2,000 women questioned, a whopping 95 per cent said they would opt for true love over great sex.