Men who exercise strenuously may have a lower libido than those whose workouts are lighter, according to a new study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Scientists asked active men about their sex lives, grouping them by the extent and intensity of their work outs. They also categorized the men according to their answers about their sex lives. The men whose exercise routines were moderate or light in intensity or duration were far more likely to report moderate or high libidos than were the men whose workouts were especially prolonged or intense, even after the researchers controlled for age. This type of study cannot tell us whether too much exercise causes low libido, only that the two are linked.

Prolonged sleep may warn of dementia

Older adults who started sleeping more than nine hours a night — but had not previously slept so much — were at more than double the risk of developing dementia a decade later than those who slept nine hours or less, researchers report. The increased risk was not seen in people who had always slept more than nine hours. "We're not suggesting you go wake up Grandpa. We think this might be a marker for the risk of dementia, not a cause" of the illness, said Dr. Sudha Seshadri, a professor of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and the senior author of the study, in Neurology. Using data from 2,457 people, average age 72, who were part of a study in Framingham, Mass., the researchers found that those with a new habit of excessive slumber were at a greater risk of all forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's.

Diabetes testing at the dentist's office

Should you get tested for diabetes at the dentist's office? Periodontitis, a chronic gum infection characterized by swollen, tender or receding gums, can be an early warning sign of Type 2 diabetes, and dental offices could be an ideal place to screen for it, said Wijnand Teeuw, the first author of a new study of 313 middle-aged patients who visited a dental clinic in Amsterdam. Researchers checked them for periodontitis and also tested their blood sugar with a finger-stick blood test. Among the group were 126 patients with mild or moderate periodontitis, 78 patients with severe periodontitis and 109 with healthy gums. Nearly half the patients with any degree of periodontitis had blood sugar tests indicating they had pre-diabetes, a condition that can progress to full-blown diabetes. Among those with mild to moderate gum disease who had never been given diabetes diagnoses, nearly 10 percent appeared to have Type 2 diabetes, while among those with the most severe gum disease who had never been given diabetes diagnoses, 18 percent had results indicating they had the full-blown disease.

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