Sex 'key to healthy happy relationship' for couples in their sixties

The popularity of the recently released movie ‘Hope Springs' which star Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones arguably stemmed from the fact many couples could relate to the issues the protagonists faced on screen.

The fraught pair are a devoted couple that nonetheless face excruciating intimacy issues after raising children alongside decades of marriage.

What we see are an older couple in love, but whose marriage has progressed to the separate beds stage.

Dan Anderson - whose novel ‘Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man' featured in the film - suggests this intimacy issue is a commonplace problem for couples facing the stresses of everyday life.

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"The movie points out problems a lot of couples have with their relationships and it is all rooted in a lack of communication," he told the Daily Express.

He said that communication is the crucial first step with reigniting a relationship where you are no longer intimate.

He added that it is a big awkward bridge to gap and the film acts as a warning that couples shouldn't lose their intimate connection in the routine and drudge of everyday life.

Anderson said that problems start when couples - through no fault of their own - become caught up in a hectic, but lonely, routine.

"Intimacy can be lost when married life becomes family life - couples lose sight of each other and instead focus, with the best intentions, on their children," he said.

As in Hope Springs, with more mature couples this issue is compounded when the children grow up, leave home and parents are confronted with an empty nest and a relationship that has been often neglected.

He advises that one needs to always focus on their relationship with their partner alongside their family.

Mature sex is a taboo topic in a society dominated by young celebrities flashing their flesh, but it is something the author argues is essential in maintaining a relationship - regardless of age.