Aged Care Insite Issue 94 | April-May 2016 | Seite 8

news

Sex, STIs up in seniors
Researcher looks to interview over-50s to
find out why infections are on the rise.

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ustralia’s baby boomers could well be having more sex
than their children, and they have the sexually transmitted
infections to show for it.

A Queensland University of Technology master’s student is
calling on over-50s to talk about their time between the sheets in
a bid to reduce growing rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Natalie Bowring said Australian Bureau of Statistics figures
showed the number of mature adults diagnosed with STIs had
doubled between 2004 and 2010, and that was just the people
who sought medical attention.
The statistics are similar to those in the UK, where STI rates in
the over-50s could surpass those in young people.
Bowring is on a quest to interview 20 sexually active, single men
and women about their bedroom behaviour. She said there was
little research about the sexual habits of older people.
“[Society doesn’t] want to think about it,” she said. “We just assume
people stop having sex when they get older, and that’s not the case.”
The researcher said she wanted to know why the over-50s didn’t
appear to use condoms.
“We are not to assume that they’re stupid, they’ve probably got
children they’ve given safe sex messages to,” she said.
Bowring said it was possibly because when they were young
condoms were used for preventing pregnancy. It could also
be because sex is less about physicality in old age and more
about intimacy.
“A condom can be a real barrier to that,” Bowring said.
She eventually wants to help introduce a better product than
condoms but first hopes society will acknowledge it’s OK for older
people to “have sex and be happy about it”. n

Just think it?

A participant in the USC study. Photo: USC

Researchers look into whether simulated
exercise – or even thoughts about working
out – can improve cognitive activity.

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rosswords, socialising, blueberries and exercise: a wide
variety of activities and comestibles have been posited as
effective tools to ward off dementia. Now, researchers
at the University of the Sunshine Coast, in partnership with the
German Sports University (GSU), are testing a new hypothesis: can
merely thinking about exercise help combat dementia?
With a $24,200 grant to kick off the study, Dr Chris Askew from
USC, and PhD student Timo Klein, are working with their German
counterparts to find out more about potential links between
stimulating thought and a range of physical ailments.

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“It’s not only investigating whether exercise is of benefit, but why
exercise is of benefit,” Askew said. “When someone is exercising,
the changes in blood pressure and carbon dioxide levels lead to
a change in blood flow to the brain. As we age, the vessels that
supply that blood can lose their responsiveness. Our initial studies
are testing whether older adults with mild cognitive impairment
– a precursor to dementia – have that limitation, and whether it
affects blood flow during exercise.”
Askew and Klein will test brain activity while a participant
engages in physical activities such as cycling and squatting
exercises. The plan is to find out if simulating this brain activity can
help combat cognitive impairment.
“Simulation, or even thinking about exercise, might be a
feasible rehabilitation option for patients with cognitive or
physical impairments caused by strokes or dementia, who
cannot physically exercise,” Askew said. n