Some shocking news today from the AP: Older people are getting busier than you probably imagined.

Well, that’s really only shocking if you think that older people have the sex drive of corpses.

The federally funded study, done by respected scientists and published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine, overturns some stereotypical notions that physical pleasure is just a young person’s game.

“Most people assume that people stop doing it after some vague age,” said researcher Edward Laumann of the University of Chicago.

However, more than half of those aged 57 to 75 said they gave or received oral sex, as did about a third of 75- to 85-year-olds.

Maybe this will put to bed — pun intended — the notion that older people are, by nature, chaste.

Some other findings: “Sex with a partner in the previous year was reported by 73 percent of people ages 57 to 64; 53 percent of those ages 64 to 75, and 26 percent of people 75 to 85. Of those who were active, most said they did it two to three times a month or more.”

Unfortunately, older people sometimes have to deal with health problems that can get in the way of a healthy sex life. Half of all respondents reported at least one issue that gets in the way of their getting it on: In men, erection trouble was the most common problem (37 percent); low desire (43 percent), vaginal dryness (39 percent) and inability to have an orgasm (34 percent) were three problems reported by women.

Also, nearly 30 percent of all men in the study voiced concerns about performance anxiety, versus 10 percent of all women.

On the whole, fewer older women than men say they are sexually active. The story says this is the case because they are more likely to be widowed and without a partner. As the Globe and Mail points out, while Viagra has enjoyed popularity as the pill that keeps older men in the game, there hasn’t been an equally as successful medical remedy for aging women who want to stay sexually active.

As the population ages, Dr. [Stacy] Lindau [an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology] believes there will be an increased demand for medical intervention among a population of women who expect to maintain healthy sex lives well into old age.

…

Dr. Lindau said there are several clinical trials in the U.S. looking for medical interventions for women, largely focused around libido issues and vaginal dryness, which can result during changes in estrogen levels post-menopause.

“We currently do not have any FDA-approved medicine therapies for women and it would be interesting to see how these data inform research and development about those issues,” she said.

I’m not usually one to cheer on Big Pharma to find a pill to cure all ills, but when it comes to helping older women maintain healthy sex lives, I think there’s a whole market that’s so far been unexplored. It’ll be really interesting to see how that changes as the Baby Boomers age.