When it comes to older people having sex, society should have a more positive outlook, a UK clinical psychologist has said.

According to Dr David Weeks, former head of old age psychology at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, sexual activity among older people brings numerous benefits.

In fact, research indicates that people who stay active and maintain a good sex life as they get older, look and feel younger than their peers.

Dr Weeks noted that when people consider the issue of ageing, ‘their thinking is riven with negative stereotypes and ageist myths'. Furthermore, this generates ‘irrational, prohibitive feelings, making sexual experiences less enjoyable for both partners within a relationship'.

"Yet the quality of sexual expression maintained in older adults is a predictor of good general health and wellbeing. In a previous Welsh heart disease study, the mortality risk was 50% lower in the group of men with high orgasmic frequency (twice a week or more) than in the group with low frequency," Dr Weeks explained.

He insisted that sexual satisfaction ‘is a major contributor to quality of life'.

"It ranks at least as high as spiritual or religious commitment and other morale factors," he pointed out.

For this reason, more mature attitudes towards older people who have sex ‘should be vigorously promoted'.

"Sexuality is not the prerogative of younger people and nor should it be," Dr Weeks added.

He made his comments at the annual conference of the British Psychological Society's Faculty of the Psychology of Older People.