Women get sex drive back with testosterone
Gynecologists hear it every day from patients who are in the throes of midlife. "Doctor, I'm just not interested in sex anymore."

Optimal energy
Whether you are a competitive athlete or a weekend warrior, how you fuel your body can affect your performance, how long it takes until you tire, and how your muscles recover after the activity.

Talk therapy found best for bipolar patients
A pair of studies suggest that talk therapy can aid patients with bipolar disorder, while two widely used antidepressants did not appear to help.

Women should get MRIs as well as mammograms
ATLANTA — Up to 1.4 million U.S. women — those with an unusually high risk of developing breast cancer — should get annual MRIs as well as mammograms, the American Cancer Society advises in new guidelines.

Relief for the caregivers
For families taking care of an elderly loved one, sometimes the responsibilities paired with work, children and life's unexpected events can be overwhelming. The number of elders affected by disabilities across the United States however, is a hidden issue.

The case for cocoa
Just the words "health food" can send lips and teeth into lockdown. They muster visions of dark, bland veggies, flakes o' cardboard and desserts reminiscent of rabbit pellets.

They let the dogs out
Alana and Seth Hickey always have loved walking.

Walk 10,000 steps a day and count on losing weight.
If you haven't gotten your 10,000 today, maybe you should.

Web slims waistlines
Super-sized fast-food combos. Piles of pasta. Dessert. Dining out can be a disaster for those waging war against the waistline.

Constipated?
"Normal" bowel habits can vary from one person to the next. The most common criteria involve evaluation of the frequency of bowel movements, the consistency and the degree of difficulty passing stool.

The way life should not be
In trying to characterize Maine Gov. John Baldacci's proposal to cut millions of dollars for community mental health services, I have tried to conjure up the right aphorism, but I'm not sure I have succeeded.

Addicted to triathlons
Kathleen Donatello was on vacation with her family, just after having had her second child, when she set a goal.

Scent of danger?
So what do you get when you mix honeysuckle laundry detergent, lemony air-freshener, pine-sweet wood cleaner and a summer spring candle? Don't know? Chances are no one else does either. At least there hasn't been any mandated research on the issue.

You can get hooked on 'soft addictions'
When Rich and Gertrude Lyons first admitted they were powerless, television was the first thing to go. Then they weaned themselves from mail-order catalogs, electronic gadgets and sugar.

Dan Brown wins copyright case
Britain's Court of Appeal rejected a suit Wednesday from two authors who claimed Rye Beach resident Dan Brown stole their ideas for his blockbuster novel "The Da Vinci Code."

Now showing on a computer near you...
A band dancing on treadmills, a bare-chested man's rant about his hot apartment and a Ninja explaining podcasting are the first victors of the YouTube Awards.

He admits a double standard
Ron Geraci admits he expects much more self-restraint from the women he dates than he could possibly exercise himself. The author of the recently published dating tell-all, "The Bachelor Chronicles," lays it all out in a chapter titled "Humble Pleas From a Single American Male."

Seacoast Hospice cites quality care as integral to extended life
EXETER - A new study published in the March 2007 issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management reports that hospice care may prolong the lives of some terminally ill patients. Among the patient populations studied, the mean survival was 29 days longer for hospice patients than for non-hospice patients.

UNH undergrads to intern at NASA
DURHAM - When NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft roared into space last October from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, college seniors and would-be astronauts Jay Carroll and Catherine Walker were on hand with others from the University of New Hampshire to celebrate contributions they had made to the mission that will study the sun.

Grocery shopping hints
Whether you are trying to stay healthy, improve your eating habits or energy levels, address a medical condition, or lose weight, the grocery store is an important part of the process.

More calories, less weight?
Deborah Arneson is divulging things we love to hear -- no to diets, yes to fats (the right ones), ditch the scales and increase calorie consumption.

Globe huggers
Pro-Earth commercials, hybrid cars and an Oscar-winning film about melting arctic ice caps drowning polar bears may be the current buzz, but on the global scale it hasn't made a substantial effect.

Public invited to global warming panel
An old friend has joined the fight against global warming.

Beloved baking soda
What does baking soda have to do with health? A lot. Baking soda cleans teeth, washes clothes and neutralizes the puppy. It has hundreds of uses in the home. The health element? It does scores of tough jobs yet is biodegradable and nontoxic. And that, my friend, spells health.

Study: Video games improve eyesight
Parents who warn teens that they will ruin their eyes playing video games may wish to avoid the current issue of the journal Psychological Science.

Study: Don't get divorced or fired
When it comes to your long-term happiness, it's worse to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, at least according to a review article by Michigan State University psychologist Richard Lucas.

The language of lust
Shakira got it right: Hips don't lie.

Winter hiking: A full-time job with postcard views
Three to four days a week, Gary Reuter, Rick Barrie and Giff Kriebel pack up whatever it takes - snowshoes, crampons, backcountry skis, telescoping poles and even sometimes an ice ax - to head to the summit of a mountain.

Problems with heartburn?
Heartburn -- that burning sensation you feel in the upper chest, often after a large meal -- is not only uncomfortable, but can also be a sign of more serious issues. When it happens more often (at least twice a week) or more severely, it may in fact be gastroesophageal reflux (GERD).

Myth-busting
Myths about nutrition seem to linger for years, just like urban legends.

Fear cancer, not test
Ruth Knowles will tell anyone who will listen that having a colonoscopy saved her life.

Pump up, slim down?
The mere mention of weight lifting generates images of people who resemble vending machines with arms. We see bodybuilders posing with clenched teeth during Mr. America contests, or we hear them grunting in a corner of the health club as they struggle to control barbells the size of Volkswagen Beetles.

The sex lives of plants
To hear the botanists tell it, the plants on display at the Philadelphia Flower Show may lead weirder and more varied sex lives than people do.

Find hope through help
"We see people blossom like a butterfly in ways that amaze you," Rob Bowling, a man who teaches a course on mental illness, told me last weekend.

Indoor kayaking
When the last swim team practice ends on Wednesdays at the University of New Hampshire's Field House's indoor pool in Durham, the lane markers are rolled in and the kayaks are pulled out from under the eaves.

Eliot teen makes 'Endurance' final
Huddling inside a tree house in California's High Sierras certainly paid off for Dakota Fisher of Eliot, Maine.

'Aw, you're just faking!'
Unlike going to Paris or eating waffles, being in the hospital doesn't tend to be a can't-wait-to-do-it again activity.

Options available for trans fats
"Trans fats" have become a common topic in the grocery stores of America. Most people have heard correctly that their intake of these modified fats should be as low as possible, since they are not required by the body and can cause health problems.