In the Scattered Pictures piece on brain impairment, we speculate that “for many [people with HIV] the biggest concern may be whether we are more likely to develop memory loss and dementia”.

What, really? Bigger than worrying about heart disease or stigma or the recession? Well, yes, if the reaction from members of our readers’ panel and others to draft versions of the article was anything to go by. “Please don’t tell me this is true,” was the general tone of some responses.

So it’s important to emphasise that what the piece uncovers – that over half of people with HIV performed worse than the general population in a battery of tests of memory and thinking - is not as frightening as it sounds.

Firstly, the differences observed would, in the majority of cases, be unnoticeable in daily life. Secondly, the same studies also found that nearly as many people recovered from being ‘fuzzy’ as acquired it between tests. Thirdly, it found that HIV-negative people in the same risk groups – for instance, gay men – also had an unexpectedly poor performance. This implies that behavioural factors (such as the amount of ecstasy you’ve taken in your life) or social ones (such as whether you’ve experienced bullying and therefore have difficulty in stressful situations like tests) may be operating here.

Research from the last few years suggests that HIV infection, especially if at any time you’ve had a low CD4 count, continues to exert an influence a long time after CD4 counts go back up. With HIV, your guts are (on average) a little more sensitive; your lungs are a bit more prone to cancer; your blood vessels a bit more likely to fur up. It follows that this picture applies to the brain too.

This implies we should treat it well, like any other organ: give it plenty of sleep, a good diet, exercise - both physical and mental, and try not to poison it with alcohol and other toxins, and it will serve us well into a sharp old age.

The terror of brain impairment is also the terror of stigma, of course, too. Mental and neurological illness is probably one of the few remaining areas of health where we sometimes turn our heads away and blame the victims. Cancer used to be stigmatised in the same way a generation ago. But a number of accounts of what it’s like to have the illness, including the recent and very public death of reality TV star Jade Goody, have helped to raise awareness of the issue. Death from cervical cancer is especially tragic as it’s an almost entirely preventable disease. See Cervical cancer and you for more on what women with HIV can do about it.

Lastly, we write this piece during a period of glorious spring sunshine. What better time than to get on your bike and pedal off to the gym or go for a run round the park? In order to encourage people to join our team for the Walk for Life on Sunday 7 June we’ve listed all the numerous benefits of exercise in Why fit is happy. Bringing us back neatly to mental health, one study found that people who took exercise were four times less likely to get stressed than couch potatoes. Think of that, put on your running shoes, and come and join us in London. Soon all your cares will melt away and you will be doing it for a good cause too.