The wife may expect the housework to be reapportioned. While the traditional wife may not change her routine much, her retired husband must adjust to a loss of many sources of self-worth and social support from his job. When the dust settles from this transition, the increased involvement with each other can bring a couple closer together. Some couples have an active sexual life into their 70's and beyond. For others, changes in sexual functioning can affect the marriage.
Some couples can learn to show affection in different ways.
As our bodies age, we experience changes in vision, hearing, reaction time and physical strength. Some degree of change is nearly universal. Other kinds of changes are not normal, and constitute disease. With age, many people acquire a number of relatively stable chronic illnesses that may affect their ability to function. Sometimes one spouse must take over responsibilities that the other one used to handle.