New York, Oct 16 (IANS): Better physical health and higher levels of sexual frequency among people above age 65 are linked to higher levels of marital satisfaction, according to a recent study.

The sexual encounters in older adults should not be limited to vaginal intercourse and orgasm. Any type of sexual touching and pleasure counts toward sexual frequency among older couples, researchers from the Johns Hopkins University in the US showed.

To reach this conclusion, the team examined data from 732 couples aged 65 to 74.

They looked at physical health, mental health, marital satisfaction and sexual activity.

"It is not just that more sex means more happiness in the marriage. More sex might actually lead to better physical and mental health," psychologist Max Wachtel was quoted as saying in a 9NEWS.com report.

Regardless of the type of sexual activity, more of it has the same positive results, researchers concluded.

Previous studies have indicated that happiness is correlated with frequency of sexual encounters in adults and marital happiness is strongly linked with sexual satisfaction.

The study appeared in the Journal of Gerontology.