Your 50's & 60's - Time to be Selfish.
Although the 50s heralds "a pause of men" known as menopause--and a dramatic change in sexual desire--many women discover that this decade offers some libido-boosting benefits. It is a fact that women tend to outlive men, therefore many of us will go though the 50's & 60's without partners. The pleasure you receive from self stimulation is a blessing says Hilda Hutcherson, M.D.  It has been said that the more love we make with the help of lubricants and a patient partner the more natural lubrication our body produces.  Free of the fear of pregnancy and the inconvenience of periods we can continue to enjoy great sex for years to come.
 
 

Age-proof your skin. During your 50s, you experience a reduction in estrogen and collagen levels, which causes the skin to lose much of its elasticity and sag around the cheeks and eyes. The good news? Hydrating your skin with moisturizer twice a day and using firming serums containing vitamin A or C in the evening can greatly improve your appearance, says Simmons.

Get pretty!  Makeup in your 50s is all about highlighting your best features, rather than covering up the areas you don't like. Limit concealer to your eye area, and use matte foundation only where needed. "Play up your lips with a cream lipstick, which won't feather as much or run into the lines around your mouth the way a gloss would," says Gafni. Apply eyeliner and mascara on the upper lash line to give your eyes a lift. And don't neglect your brows: Keep them well-groomed and fill them in with brow powder, which can open your eyes up and take years off your appearance.
 
 

Aging Ain't What It Used to Be!

Time marches on, but age may be slowing down, which is why today's 50-year-olds often look and feel much younger than their parents did at age 50.  Is 50 the new 30? Probably not, but 50 may be the new 40. "It's hard to quantify. What we do know is that people are living longer and more vigorously. And they appear younger," says Jesse Roth, MD,  geriatrician-in-chief of the North Shore University Hospital.  While there is general agreement that both men and women are aging differently than their parents and grandparents, the differences may be more apparent in women, says Freedman. "Up until the late 1960s, almost all women were iron deficient. That changed when we started fortifying foods with iron." The symptoms of iron deficiency include fatigue, headaches, and weakness. "Back then, women didn't exercise because most of them couldn't exercise -- they were too tired."

The ability to exercise and the time to do so have really changed aging, says Colin Milner, executive director of the International Council on Active Aging, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based trade group. He says that while a big component of aging is attitude -- "I have a 13-year-old daughter who thinks like she's 40 and a 92-year-old grandmother who thinks like a 21-year-old" -- exercise and fitness are a big component of healthier aging. "Society in general has changed over the last several decades," he says. Now the population not only wants to live longer but wants to live healthier and more active "and has the resources to support that lifestyle." Moreover, for boomers who have "grown up" paying dues at health clubs, "they don't question continuing that practice even if they retire." Milner adds that medical advances, from cosmetic surgery to Botox injections to replacement knees and hips, also help "turn back time."
 

 
The Fifty's: A New beginning

Many women are thrilled to put the hassles of menstruation and contraception behind them. And even though you can't count on your hormones to rev up your libido, you don't have to kiss your sex life good-bye. New medications, including Viagra, are currently being tested.

Good-bye hormones
When women enter menopause, typically at age 51, about 40 percent begin to experience an even more significant drop-off in sexual interest or report some kind of dysfunction, says Mary Lake Polan. Small wonder: With menopause, there's a dramatic decrease in the ovaries' production of estrogen, the hormone that helps lubricate the vagina and increases blood flow to the genitals. Testosterone also declines.

Getting a handle on HRT
Many postmenopausal women take hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which usually involves a combination of estrogen and a synthetic version of progesterone. While HRT is effective in treating symptoms of menopause, such as vaginal dryness and hot flashes, it can lower testosterone levels, dampening libido, according to Laura and Jennifer Berman. As a result, some physicians are starting to prescribe testosterone in addition to HRT.
 
 

 
I think I'm Young, therefore I am.
Randy B. Hecht writes:  It seems only yesterday we would giggle at the sight of old geezers holding hands or kissing in public. The thing I can’t figure out now is: what the hell was so funny?

There’s no denying the numbers: we baby boomers (even the youngest of us) have reached mid-life. But even as the oldest members of our club are rapidly approaching their senior discount years, we’re busily rewriting the rules about what it means to act your age. We’ve got a different mindset than our parents or their parents had, and it turns out in this case that denial is a wonderful thing. Before us, the slogan for getting on in years was, “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.” For us, it’s more like, “I’ve fallen while wall-climbing, and I need a little arthroscopic procedure done so I can start inline skating again.” And even when it comes to age, the numbers are on our side: we’re the single-biggest demographic the world has ever known.

Where might you and romance run into each other again? It could happen in dance class, at your local library, or on that whitewater-rafting trip you’ve got the urge to take. But you don’t need to don a life preserver to test the dating waters.  You just need to be “out there” — whichever “there” fits your personality, lifestyle, and interests. Wherever that is, you’ll notice you’ve got a lot of company. And chances are, someone’s going to be particularly interested in your company.

Love keeps you young at heart, and from the looks of things, our hearts have no plans to go into retirement any time soon. Why should they? Heck, some of us may look back on our 20’s and 30’s and realize they were just a warm-up, a prelude to the real deal.

So, let’s not say we’re getting on in years. Let’s say we’ve been practicing youth for a long, long time (which must mean we’ve gotten pretty good at it by now). The calendar may tell us it’s been 37 years since the Summer of Love, but we older singles haven’t played out our season of romance just yet!

 

 

"No matter what your calendar age,
sex is a first-rate age reducer."