We all know that exercise can help you lose weight and reduce certain health risks. But new research reveals that getting a good sweat going can be helpful in other ways as well. Among the benefits, aerobic exercise can eliminate depression, reduce the chance of getting dementia and make you smarter. That’s right. It can make people of all ages - from preschool to retirement - perform better intellectually.

The recent passage by the General Assembly of legislation that bans smoking in restaurants with limited exceptions is a significant public health step forward for all Virginians. We applaud the governor’s efforts and those of delegates and senators of both parties for their leadership on such a critical issue. Simply stated, too many lives are at stake to have justified anything less.

When: March 20
  Where: University of Richmond
  Cost: $100, including breakfast refreshments, Ratey’s lecture, a panel discussion with local health and wellness professionals, book-signing, wellness fair and lunch.
  More details: Go to http://www.riversideschool.org for a complete schedule or to download a registration form.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a 604-page report this week on the nation’s health, with a section devoted to young adults. One thing worth noting is the prevalence of mental-health disorders: Between 1999 and 2004, almost 9 percent of adults ages 20 to 29 had major depression, generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder during a 12-month period.

OK, so I will be the first to tell you that I don’t know my black history like I should, especially when it comes to my hometown, the capital city of the commonwealth. So when I received a chance to go on a brief tour with my old history professor at Virginia Union University, Dr. Raymond P. Hylton, I jumped at the opportunity.

As the economy continues to falter, there are signs people are taking it to heart. Cardiologist Christine J. Browning is seeing more patients complaining of stress, and for many, the economy is to blame. “Sometimes they come in saying, ‘Oh, I think this is all stress and I don’t know why my doctor sent me to have a heart evaluation,‘“ said Browning, who practices with Richmond Cardiology Associates at the Bon Secours Heart & Vascular Institute.

Lynchburg’s Dr. Robert Walter “Whirlwind” Johnson, who died in 1971, has been selected for induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Johnson, a physician, was tennis mentor to black athletes during the segregation era. Among hundreds—including some white players—who were sponsored, trained and nurtured by Johnson at his Lynchburg home were two of the sport’s all-time greats, Richmond’s Arthur Ashe and New York’s Althea Gibson. Both were African-American trailblazers in tennis and are Hall of Fame members.

Dr. Sketchy’s is what happens “when cabaret meets art school,“ its Web site says. Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School - a modest little Brooklyn burlesque drawing club that has become an international phenomenon - has opened a branch in Richmond.

Randolph Murrell Halloran initially didn’t want to become a doctor. The Beckley, W.Va., native’s father was a surgeon. His elder brother already was in medical school. “He always was fascinated with mathematics and physics,“ said his wife of 12½ years, Deborah Barr Halloran. “He was going to buck the family tradition. “He went to Georgia Tech sight unseen and decided after six months that mathematics and physics were just not his calling.“

Q.My running group just finished the Richmond SunTrust Marathon, and more than half of us have symptoms consistent with ilio-tibial band syndrome. All of us with this problem are experiencing pain on the outside of the knee. It worsens with running, and when the symptoms come on, they get even worse if we keep running. What causes this problem, and are there any exercises that can be done to help prevent this from happening?

In an eerie warp of time, celebrated medical examiner Dr. Marcella Fierro yesterday charted the wounds and death of 6-year-old Alexander Paul Glanz to a Hanover County jury. Testimony from the state’s former chief medical examiner came almost to the moment 28 years after Glanz disappeared—Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 3, 1980, from his Highland Springs home.