The secret to happiness past your 65th birthday has been revealed — sex, and lots of it.
New research conducted by Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University found that the more often married individuals have sex, the more likely they are to be happy.
Assistant professor Adrienne Jackson analysed data from the 2004 General Social Surveys, an opinion poll that quizzes a national sample of US adults about a number of topics including their sex life, relationships and happiness.
Based on the survey responses of 238 married people over the age of 65, Jackson found a strong link between how often they had sex and how happy they said they were.
Almost 60 percent of people who engaged in sexual activity more than once a month said they were "very happy", compared to just 40 percent of those who had no sexual activity in the past 12 months.
The relationship between sex and happiness was regardless of gender, age, health status and financial situation.
Jackson said she hoped the findings would encourage health systems to become more active in helping senior people maintain active sex lives.
"Highlighting the relationship between sex and happiness will help us in developing and organising specific sexual health interventions for this growing segment of our population," Jackson said.
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