There are many things that happen to our bodies as we age. Our skin sags, hair turns grey, we lose the elasticity we once had and wrinkles start to form in places you didn't know could wrinkle.
Ageing doesn't care which part of they body it targets – it will affect every inch of you and yep, that means your genital area as well.
"Sexual function declines as we age, but there are ways to slow or even halt this process to ensure that you enjoy sex into your advancing years," sexual health expert and co-owner of online sex toy retailer jodivine.com Samantha Evans said.
Here are five things you can expect to happen to your penis as you age:
1. Your testosterone levels will drop
Samantha said as a man ages, his testosterone levels will drop and it will take him longer to get aroused.
"Erectile dysfunction (ED) is associated with the ageing process and many men notice their sexual function may start to decline between 40-70 years," Samantha said.
ED is very common among ageing men and one of the most common causes of it can be stress.
2. The colour of your penis will change
As we age, atherosclerosis - the hardening of our arteries - becomes more common. This reduces good blood flow to a man's genital area and thus the tip of the penis becomes lighter in colour.
"The penis undergoes several physical changes as men get older," Samantha said.
"Reduced blood flow to the penis can cause the head of the penis to lose its purplish colour and just like the hair on our head and under our armpits, pubic hair becomes thinner and more sparse."
3. Your weight will alter the size of your penis
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine from March 2000 said between the ages of 25 and 44 both men and women put on an average of 3.4% and 5.2% of weight per year respectively.
This means if you are a 160lb man you can expect to put on 5lb annually and if you are a 160lb woman you could expect to put on 8lb annually.
Samantha explained, "As a man gains more weight around his middle he may notice that his penis appears to be shrinking, but this pre-pubic pad of fat only makes the penis appear shorter when the base of the shaft is, in fact, buried in the fat pad. Losing weight will reveal that the penis has not shrunk."
4. There will be shrinkage
No, not just jumping-into-cold-water shrinkage, permanent shrinkage.
"As a man gets older, his penis may shrink in size as a result of the slow deposit of fatty plaques in tiny arteries in the penis which reduces blood flow," Samantha said.
"Known as arteriosclerosis, this process also occurs in the blood vessels surrounding the heart. The build up of inelastic collagen (scar tissue) inside the stretchy fibrous sheath that surrounds the erection chambers can lead to smaller erections."
5. Your penis will be less sensitive
Since your testosterone levels drop and testosterone helps to support nervous tissue this will lead to a decrease in sensitivity - making it more difficult to climax and a softer erection.
As Samantha explained, "As a man gets older he may notice that he has decreased sensitivity in his penis, making it harder to achieve an erection and have an orgasm. This doesn’t usually affect sexual function or make sex less pleasurable."
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