Prepare To Enter ThirdAge

You may often think about sex and romance, and so may your parents. Many older couples are working on bringing more of both into their relationships. And help may be just a click away.

ThirdAge.com, designed for Internet users 45 to 64, has as its goal providing people with information on preserving and enhancing their primary relationships. Its founder and chairman of the board, Mary Furlong, explains topics covered by the site on CBS News This Morning.

Click here for more on sex and romance.

So couples that have put their lives on hold while raising kids can now get to know each other again and focus on fun, Furlong says.

"There are more transitions in this age group than in any other. When you're 19, you are concerned about your major in college," she says. "When you are in your ThirdAge, you reignite your passion and energy, and that usually means with your primary partner. And you think of ways of making that relationship work."

Her Web site offers information in a variety of forms:

• Experts offer advice on specific topics and respond to email.
• Users can read articles on a variety of relationship situations.
• Links to other relevant Web sites and suggested reading material are provided.
• And users can go into a chat room.

• A total of 81 percent said that the best years are right now or just ahead.
  
• Sixty-four percent felt younger than their years.
• Sixty-one percent felt as attractive as they did 10 years ago or even beautiful.
• Seventy percent looked in the mirror and saw someone who looked as many as 15 years younger.

"It tells you that they are ready to design life for themselves and their partner and that they are extremely satisfied," Furlong says. "And we are providing resources to help them do that."

"Seventy percent of those who responded have a child at home. Or maybe they have a kid who left and returned home," she adds.

"They may be rediscovering that their spouse wants to start new career," Furlong says. "There are many changes within their bodies, their relationship and work environment."

The good news is that technology is easier to use and ThirdAgers are going online in record numbers, notes Furlong.

"There are certain things that we just can't change, like our bodies. But it's our attitudes that are going to be changed," she says.

"We are a generation that believes that we can make a difference in things so we will use our medical discoveries to enhance the quality of our lives," Furlong adds.

"To me, it's taking ownership of our commitment to and quality of our relationship. This life stage is not about performance but the quality of our experience and our connection to that," she says.

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