The original study, which was conducted over a period of twelve weeks, 50 middle-aged women were given either Cialis or a placebo. Most of the participants were married and were asked to engage in sexual intercourse at least once a week as well as diarise what they experienced and when. “Many went above and beyond,” Bradford reported. The improvements could be caused by several aspects, some including talking to a health professional about sex, thinking about sex more often and trying a little bit harder. “I just think the act of attending to their sex lives was very therapeutic for some women,” Bradford said. When the study was concluded the frequency with which the women had sex, of course, declined, but their sex lives had improved significantly already. She said that quality was becoming more important than quality.

When sex is no longer satisfying, women tend to avoid it, noted Aline Zolbrod, a Boston-area clinical psychologist and sex therapist. Without at least giving it a try, there is little hope sex will get better. “I love this study,” Zolbrod said. “It does what we'd like to get our patients to do, which is to start having sex again. Instead of getting into bed and sighing, ‘Oh, this is never going to work,’ instead they are getting into bed and thinking, ‘Let's see what happens.’ When you have that attitude and you have sex almost once a week, for some women it really did the trick”.

“The ages of 35 to 55 can be difficult for women, who may be balancing careers, family responsibilities and assorted worries that seemingly leave little time to feel erotic,” says Zolbrod. Many women, even those who don't have sexual dysfunction, may be able to learn a bit from the study, she added. “Just try it. Hope for good things. Don't avoid it. Go in with good expectations. And communicate a little bit about what makes you feel good in your body,” she said.

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